Unfamiliar
The boiling water overflowed from the cup in an instant, and Gu Jiahe’s mind suddenly went blank. He reached out to grab the cup, but the boiling water spilled onto his hand, causing a sharp pain.
“Damn it!” he quickly shook his hand.
Li Zhao, who appeared beside him at some point, opened the cold water tap in front of him, saying, “Rinse it with cold water.”
However, his face remained expressionless throughout the process, without any extra emotions.
Gu Jiahe didn’t look up at him and followed the advice, placing his hand under the water tap.
Li Zhao didn’t continue speaking; he walked to his desk and turned on the computer.
“Hey, Lawyer Li is here.” Wu Mou’s voice came from the doorway.
Gu Jiahe’s hand finally didn’t hurt so much. He turned off the water tap and carefully carried the cup back to his desk.
Gu Jiahe only noticed that Li Zhao was followed by two interns, a man and a woman.
“Jiahe, have you greeted Lawyer Li?”
“I have.” Li Zhao answered before him, finally revealing a faint professional smile on his face.
“Haha, then I’ll rely on you two during this period. We’ll count on Tianhe for professional matters.” Wu Mou, seeing Li Zhao’s arrival, treated it like seeing a savior. He pulled out a pile of documents from a cabinet behind him and placed them on their desks.
Li Zhao had clearly done a lot of preparation before coming. He printed two copies of the plan for Wu Mou and also gave one to Gu Jiahe.
Gu Jiahe opened it and took a look—it was the preliminary work for the law firm’s IPO preparation, which would continue for half a year.
In other words, Li Zhao would be working closely with him in the same office for the next six months.
Gu Jiahe felt a splitting headache and just wanted to dig a hole to escape from this office.
Obviously, Wu Mou wouldn’t let him off so easily.
“Oh, Jiahe, arrange lunch for Lawyer Li and his team at noon. Let’s get acquainted, which will facilitate our future work.”
Gu Jiahe could only nod and then proceeded to open a food delivery app to leave reviews.
At around 11 a.m., the group set off from the office.
Gu Jiahe walked quickly in the front and got into Wu Mou’s car. After the car started moving, he turned around and took a glance. Li Zhao was driving a gray Lexus.
Wu Mou noticed that he didn’t look well the whole morning and asked with rare concern, “What’s wrong, sick?”
“No, just didn’t sleep well.” Gu Jiahe replied with his head down.
“Oh, you young people like staying up late at night. You should sleep earlier; you’ll feel more energetic the next day at work.”
Gu Jiahe just wanted to plug his ears. In his heart, he cursed, “If you didn’t delegate everything to me, would I have to work until 10 p.m.?”
The agreed-upon restaurant was in a commercial area three kilometers away from the company. Gu Jiahe checked the company’s entertainment expense standards and found that the slightly upscale restaurants nearby were all beyond the reimbursement limit except for this one.
Wu Mou and Li Zhao sat in the two innermost seats, with an empty seat next to Li Zhao.
Gu Jiahe took a step back, wanting to sit on the aisle side, but two interns had already taken those seats.
He could only walk back and sit next to Li Zhao.
“Wen Qi, He Xiao, these are the two interns I brought. They will be with us throughout this project,” Li Zhao raised his hand and introduced them.
Wu Mou smiled and pointed at Gu Jiahe, “Xiao Gu here is the head of our legal department. He’ll be handling more coordination with you guys later.”
Li Zhao just nodded.
“Um, Xiao Gu, why don’t you order some dishes for everyone?” Wu Mou started giving orders as usual.
Gu Jiahe could only open the menu in front of him and called the waiter to order.
Gu Jiahe was wearing short sleeves, and only then did Wu Mou notice his wrist.
“Xiao Gu, what happened to your hand?”
There was a red scratch mark around Gu Jiahe’s wrist. It was from that night, and it hadn’t completely faded yet.
“Fell on a rainy day,” Gu Jiahe explained without looking up.
Li Zhao glanced over at him upon hearing this, his gaze lingering on Gu Jiahe’s wrist for a moment before moving away.
“Sweet and sour spare ribs, honey-glazed chicken wings…” Gu Jiahe listed a few dish names.
After the waiter left, Wu Mou was engaged in casual conversation with the two interns.
Li Zhao glanced at the menu Gu Jiahe had marked, his Adam’s apple rolling as if he wanted to say something, but he swallowed it back.
Gu Jiahe felt his gaze, turned his head, and explained, “Their signature dishes.”
Only after saying this did he realize that he might have been unnecessary.
On the other side, after Wu Mou finished chatting, he turned around and saw Gu Jiahe talking to Li Zhao.
“Mr. Li, do you two know each other?”
Li Zhao: “We do.”
Gu Jiahe: “Not really.”
Gu Jiahe didn’t look up, casually throwing out two words, causing the atmosphere to suddenly turn cold.
“Oh dear, didn’t expect that, Xiao Gu, you didn’t tell me earlier,” Wu Mou patted Gu Jiahe’s shoulder.
“Just met a few times during school. I was afraid he wouldn’t remember me from back then,” Gu Jiahe lifted his head, forcing an awkward smile.
Li Zhao glanced at him, “How could I forget? Manager Gu was a remarkable talent back then, unforgettable.”
Even if the people nearby were deaf, they could still sense the ambiguous tone of this conversation.
The atmosphere at the not-so-large dining table became even more peculiar.
The two interns dared not speak. Wu Mou laughed to ease the tension but couldn’t help giving Gu Jiahe a fierce glare.
“Did you also study around here before?”
“Yes, I did my undergrad and master’s at the Law School.”
“Oh, a top student. The Law School is quite famous. It’s not something ordinary folks like us could get into.”
Li Zhao adjusted his shirt collar, glanced at Gu Jiahe, who was silently eating, and asked, “Manager Gu, did you continue your studies after graduating from college?”
Gu Jiahe looked up and met his gaze, “No.”
Gu Jiahe felt that this meal was the longest one in his life. Even though it lasted less than an hour before ending, he felt his legs had gone numb.
On the way back, Wu Mou’s brain seemed to have malfunctioned. He insisted on showing hospitality and offered to give the two interns a ride, asking Gu Jiahe to guide Lawyer Li on the way.
Gu Jiahe could only grit his teeth and follow Li Zhao to his Lexus.
“Sorry for the trouble.”
“It’s okay.”
The conversation between the two was polite yet distant, carrying an inexplicable tension.
Not long after the car started, Gu Jiahe couldn’t hold back a sneeze. He opened the window for ventilation, only to have his nose run against the wind. It was awkward and embarrassing.
“Are you catching a cold?” As luck would have it, they hit a red light, and Li Zhao turned to look at him.
“Thanks to you,” Gu Jiahe pulled out a tissue and wiped his nose forcefully.
“I remember the interns usually have common medicine.” Li Zhao said only half a sentence.
“No need, I have them in my office.”
The car fell into silence again.
Gu Jiahe hugged his arms, tilted his head, and looked at the road that kept receding outside the window.
Li Zhao drove with both hands on the steering wheel.
In a moment when the car turned, Gu Jiahe glanced at Li Zhao’s left ring finger from the corner of his eye.
Bare, without any accessories.
When the group returned to the office, it was almost two in the afternoon. The early summer sun was scorching, baking the office through the large floor-to-ceiling windows.
Gu Jiahe walked to the door and lowered the temperature by two degrees.
Li Zhao walked over and raised the temperature by two degrees again.
Gu Jiahe, seeing his actions, asked, “Don’t you find it hot?”
Li Zhao didn’t say anything, his face expressionless. He turned around and returned to his workstation.
“These are the company’s business license, business files, company articles, and shareholder meeting resolution documents. You have the electronic files, but these are hard copies. Check them, and let me know if anything is missing after you finish,” Gu Jiahe’s tone was indifferent as he pushed a pile of prepared materials to Li Zhao’s desk.
“Manager Gu is considerate.”
After Li Zhao took over the stack of materials, he found a crumpled single page under the folder.
—Happy Family Rental Agency.
“Are you moving?” Li Zhao casually asked as he picked up that single page.
Gu Jiahe snatched the paper away, crumpled it, and threw it into the trash, saying, “It was in the courier packaging.”
Gu Jiahe had a headache. He knew moving this time was useless. He couldn’t resign, could he?
Li Zhao’s seat was only a meter away from him, and any big movement would touch the other. Gu Jiahe felt like a hamster locked in a cage.
The early summer weather was capricious; just moments ago, the sun was shining brightly, and now it was raining outside. Gu Jiahe frowned upon hearing the rain.
Li Zhao didn’t speak much in the afternoon, just sitting at his desk and looking at documents.
It wasn’t until almost the end of the day when the rain became heavier, and the outside view became misty, that he stood up from his desk.
Li Zhao stared outside for a while, his eyes seemingly unfocused, and then muttered to himself, “Fortunately, there’s no rainy season here.”
The intern in the back seat, Wen Qi, heard this and turned to ask Li Zhao, “Lawyer Li, are you from the south?”
“Yeah, from Pingcheng.”
“Ah, I visited there during college! It does rain a lot over there! When we went, it rained for four days straight, and many attractions were missed, what a pity…”
Li Zhao didn’t continue the conversation with him and just kept looking outside.
Gu Jiahe glanced at him. Was it just his imagination?
Although Li Zhao had a tall and straight figure, the rain curtain outside reflected in his pupils, making him appear somewhat lost.
Gu Jiahe suddenly felt his heart being gripped by a hand. He quickly lowered his head, pretending to be busy flipping through documents.
Rustle, rustle — the entire space was filled with the sound of pages turning.
Both remained silent for a while.
There was a question that had been blocking Gu Jiahe’s mind all day. After some thought, he asked in a voice only the two of them could hear, “When did you find out I work here?”
“Just found out this morning.”
After getting the answer, Gu Jiahe packed up his things and headed for the elevator lobby.
Li Zhao also packed up and walked over.
As a result, the two coincidentally met at the elevator lobby.
Li Zhao followed him into the elevator and went downstairs. Throughout the descent, no one spoke, only the mechanical sound of the elevator’s operation.
In just a short ten seconds, it felt infinitely prolonged. Even the flashing numbers on the display seemed unusually glaring.
As soon as the elevator door opened, Gu Jiahe raised his umbrella and was about to walk out.
Li Zhao seemed unwilling to remain silent. He asked from behind, “You really don’t want to see me that much?”
Seeing that Gu Jiahe still didn’t answer, he took a step forward to catch up, his tone containing an uncontrollable anger, “You were the one who suggested breaking up that year, and you were the one who left suddenly. Can’t I even get a reason from you until now?”
Gu Jiahe’s hand suddenly paused, instinctively shrinking his shoulders. He turned around, lowering his eyes and not looking at Li Zhao, “Can I apologize to you now? Is it too late? I’m sorry.”
Li Zhao was momentarily stunned, as if he hadn’t expected him to say this.
Before he could react, Gu Jiahe turned around, raised the umbrella, and walked into the rain alone.