Li Zhou was frightened nearly to tears. He hurriedly hid both hands behind his back, but kept getting forced to retreat by Shi Yi, sweat pouring off him.
“I, I’m not handsome, P-President Lu is the handsome one, Young Master Shi, I’m just an ordinary person, I can’t take on such a valuable gift, only someone as noble as President Lu deserves it, Young Master Shi, Young Master Shi, I really can’t accept it.”
Hearing this, Shi Yi’s advance on Li Zhou suddenly stopped, and the smile at the corners of his mouth turned mocking. “Is that so? You think he’s noble? What’s noble about a gay man? Just a freak.”
Words like that, Shi Yi dared to say, but Li Zhou didn’t even dare listen to them.
At that moment Li Zhou wished he were deaf, or mute, so he wouldn’t have to face such a hopeless standoff.
He didn’t even dare imagine what their boss’s reaction would be to hearing all this.
Being called a freak in front of his own subordinate, this was practically slapping their President Lu in the face in public.
Li Zhou didn’t dare look at all toward Lu Huaiqian standing off to the side, and forced himself to stammer out something to try to smooth over the awkwardness. “Young Master Shi, it, it’s the 21st century now, b-being gay is, is also normal, everyone accepts it too, it’s not being a freak.”
“You marrying our President Lu, we, we all support it too, and, congra…”
Congratulate him on it.
“Oh, is that so?” Shi Yi smiled at Li Zhou and cut him off. “Since you say that, Xiao Zhou, are you gay too, then? Do you like men too?”
The question drained even more color from Li Zhou’s face.
Even though society’s acceptance of gay people had indeed grown quite a bit these days, especially after their boss and Shi Yi got married, which had opened up even more of a voice for gay people.
But he really didn’t like men.
And as for this question from their boss’s spouse standing right in front of him, there was no way to answer it that wouldn’t be wrong.
If he said no, that would be as good as agreeing, in a roundabout way, with what their boss’s spouse had just said.
If he said yes, judging by the expression on their boss’s spouse’s face, there was surely an even bigger pit waiting for him after that.
A man who’d weathered every storm alongside Lu Huaiqian now found himself backed into a corner by Shi Yi with no way out.
Panicking, Li Zhou could only shoot a desperate glance at Lu Huaiqian, hoping their boss would take pity and rescue him.
But that hope of his ultimately came to nothing.
Their boss hadn’t caught his pleading glance at all.
Ever since Shi Yi had walked through the door, Lu Huaiqian’s gaze had been locked onto him.
Even though Shi Yi had come here to embarrass him, even though Shi Yi had come to give gifts to his subordinate, even though it hurt, he still couldn’t look away.
This habit had already formed twelve years ago, and it seemed he could never break it, not for the rest of his life.
“Why aren’t you saying anything? What are you looking at him for?” Shi Yi, taking in Li Zhou’s every move, couldn’t help letting the corner of his smiling mouth curve up even higher. “Could it be you like him? Well then, this position of Mrs. Lu would be just right for you…”
I’ll hand it right over to you.
“?!”
Their boss’s spouse was truly trying to get him killed!
Li Zhou shook his head so fast it looked like a rattle drum, his face pale, and cried out to interrupt Shi Yi. “N-no! Young Master Shi, I don’t like President Lu! I have a girlfriend, and we’re about to get married too! I swear, President Lu and I really are purely a boss-and-subordinate relationship!”
“Oh, is that so, what a shame then.”
Shi Yi’s long lashes trembled, and his mocking smile even carried a trace of regret. “If you don’t like him, never mind then, it’s for the best, if you liked men I wouldn’t like you anymore. Good boy, we don’t want to turn into one of those freaks, do we? Here, put the watch on.”
Shi Yi took a couple more steps toward Li Zhou with the watch, as though he wouldn’t rest until Li Zhou accepted it.
Li Zhou really was about to cry.
“Take it.” Before Li Zhou could react, Lu Huaiqian, who had been silent off to the side for a good while, suddenly spoke up.
“Huh?” Li Zhou’s eyes went wide with shock and confusion.
Lu Huaiqian repeated himself. “Take it.”
“…Ah, oh.” Like a marionette on strings, Li Zhou stiffly reached out and took the watch Shi Yi handed him. “Thank you, Young Master Shi.”
“You’re welcome.” Shi Yi curved his lips in satisfaction. “Oh right, this bouquet’s for you too.”
Shi Yi picked up another bouquet, this one made of pink and white roses, and handed it to Li Zhou.
Li Zhou’s brain had short-circuited, and, still like a marionette, he took it.
Of the two rose bouquets and two gifts, one of each had now been given away, leaving the other two sitting on the table in Lu Huaiqian’s meeting area.
Lu Huaiqian’s hands, hanging at his sides, clenched involuntarily, and the gaze he turned toward Shi Yi carried a faint, cautious trace of hope.
Shi Yi still hadn’t looked at him. He picked up a bottle of mineral water sitting on the table and, twisting it open, asked Li Zhou, “Where’s Xiao Jing? Is he at the company?”
Holding the flowers in one hand and the watch in the other, Li Zhou said, his expression stiff, “Young Master Shi, Jingyuan is on a business trip this morning.”
Lin Jingyuan was also one of Lu Huaiqian’s assistants, and had joined the company at the same time as Li Zhou.
He and Li Zhou were Lu Huaiqian’s first and second assistants, respectively.
“On a business trip? What bad timing.” Shi Yi took a couple of sips of water, then screwed the cap back on. “Well then, when he gets back, give him this watch, and this bouquet too. Tell him the matsutake mushrooms he bought yesterday were very fresh, and I really liked them.”
The cautious hope in Lu Huaiqian’s eyes vanished, replaced by an endless, welling sorrow.
Li Zhou: “…Y-yes, all right.”
“One more thing,” Shi Yi said. “I’m in a good mood today, so let me treat the whole company to afternoon tea.”
Li Zhou: “…Y-yes, of course, Young Master Shi.”
Shi Yi added one more line. “Oh, of course, gay men don’t get invited. Him eating something I’m paying for, I’d find that disgusting.”
Li Zhou didn’t respond.
And he felt a pang of sympathy for Lu Huaiqian on his behalf.
Needless to say, both men in the room knew exactly who Shi Yi meant.
“All right, that’s it, I’ve got somewhere to be, I’m off.” Shi Yi smiled at Li Zhou. “Don’t forget to give Xiao Jing the watch and flowers when he’s back.”
Shi Yi had blown in like the wind, then left behind a mess like a sandstorm before departing just as fast.
The door to the president’s office closed, and it was a good while before the two of them came back to their senses.
Holding the flowers and the watch, Li Zhou looked at Lu Huaiqian with sympathy and unease. “President Lu, this, this flower, and, and the watch…”
“Take them.”
Lu Huaiqian returned to his desk, sat down in his chair, and his expression settled back into its usual cold, indifferent look. “He went out of his way to bring these over, so he must genuinely think they suit you both. Don’t let him have made the trip for nothing.”
“N-no, President Lu, why would Young Master Shi go out of his way to bring us gifts?”
With Shi Yi gone and the pressure lifted, Li Zhou’s wits climbed back to the high ground. “I think Young Master Shi definitely came to see you. This, this flower and the watch must be for you too, didn’t you have a watch of a similar style that broke before?”
As if he’d found a breakthrough, Li Zhou piled the flowers and watch all in front of Lu Huaiqian, arguing firmly, “It must be that Young Master Shi felt too embarrassed to give them to you directly, so he went the long way around and had Jingyuan and me pass them on to you instead.”
“How could we possibly dare take something Young Master Shi gave us? I’d bet Jingyuan’s watch is definitely from the same collection too.”
Li Zhou hurriedly turned and, without a second thought, opened the other gift box, and let out a breath of relief on seeing a watch from the same collection as his own. “President Lu, look, see, it’s just as I said, Young Master Shi must have meant these for you. As assistants like us, how could we possibly wear Patek Philippe, it’s simply not our place or our standing.”
“I’d guess Young Master Shi meant these for you, President Lu. We can’t accept these things, Jingyuan and I, better to return them to their rightful owner.”