Once he calmed down, Ji Li carefully reflected on everything that had happened during this period, realizing that there had been clues all along, tracing back to a long time ago.
During their very first scheduled meeting, Little Rabbit had said he was working overtime and asked him to wait a bit. On that exact day, Ji Li had indeed demanded that Xu Nanxin revise a proposal. The youth had even run into his office to ask if he could submit it the following afternoon instead.
When Ji Li returned that evening, he had noticed that in the entire office, Xu Nanxin was the only one left who hadn’t gone home yet.
During that period, Little Rabbit had also complained to him, saying his workload had increased because of a new boss and that he was constantly revising a proposal. As it turned out, the boy had been complaining about him all along.
The next day… As if struck by a thought, Ji Li’s mind suddenly cleared up significantly. Yes, all the changes had started from the very next day.
Xu Nanxin had come to his office to hand in the proposal but had clumsily dropped it all over the floor. Xu Nanxin’s behavior that day had been outright abnormal.
Thinking about it now, the first-meeting gift he had prepared for Little Rabbit happened to be sitting right on his desk at the time. It was highly possible the youth had caught sight of it right then and there.
So, he had known ever since that moment…
“Sigh…” Ji Li couldn’t help but let out a long sigh. He knew all along, yet he kept his mouth tightly shut and even started coming up with every possible way to conceal it and avoid meeting up. Truly… well done.
Ji Li was honestly both furious and helpless. Yet, the moment he thought about how Little Rabbit must have been trembling with fear every time they spoke on the phone, his heart couldn’t help but ache for him.
Their interactions during this period… had indeed been rather unpleasant.
Xu Nanxin was someone who couldn’t hide his thoughts on his face. Almost from that day onward, the way the youth looked at him had clearly been filled with a lot of inexplicable, complicated emotions.
That was precisely why Ji Li had deliberately set aside time to pull Xu Nanxin aside for a few private words. If he had known early on that the boy was Little Rabbit, that incident would never have happened that day.
He simply hadn’t wanted to give anyone else any unrealistic illusions. Though his words had been harsh, it was meant for Xu Nanxin’s own good.
But at that time, he hadn’t connected the dots in that direction at all, nor was it possible for him to think that way. Who would ever imagine that their online dating partner would happen to be in the same company as them?
What’s more, the other party clearly knew everything, yet refused to confess it to him honestly.
Recalling the things he had said to Xu Nanxin, Ji Li fell into silence once more.
When he didn’t know Xu Nanxin was Little Rabbit, he hadn’t felt much about it. After all, he was doing what he believed was right, and he had no obligation to care about the emotions of an irrelevant person.
But once he substituted Little Rabbit into the equation, Ji Li thought of the boy who called him “Mr. Z, Mr. Z” every day online, clinging to him, sharing all his joys and sorrows, and who would immediately act spoiled and say he was hurting after being wronged.
It was hard to imagine, if Xu Nanxin had known all along that he was Mr. Z, how terribly painful those words from him that night must have sounded in the boy’s heart.
No wonder Little Rabbit’s voice over the phone carried a muffled sound as if he had been crying, and no wonder he was becoming more and more afraid of him.
But what did Xu Nanxin mean by this?
What was he thinking in his heart?
Did he plan to tell him absolutely nothing and just give him the cold shoulder?
If he hadn’t proactively brought up meeting in person time and time again, would Xu Nanxin have just chosen to abandon this relationship while he remained completely in the dark?
He wouldn’t even have had the right to know… At the thought of this, he still felt somewhat angry at Xu Nanxin’s approach. Although he knew that this matter couldn’t be entirely blamed on the other party and that he bore a certain amount of responsibility.
However, under the premise that he already had a partner, maintaining a basic distance from others to avoid unnecessary emotional entanglements was fundamentally without any fault.
Even now, Ji Li still didn’t believe he had done anything wrong; he just hadn’t expected that person to be Little Rabbit, which made those words exceptionally wounding.
He closed the file given to him by the HR department. Laid out before him, only Xu Nanxin’s personal profile remained.
Ji Li rose from his office chair, walked around the desk toward the doorway, and opened the door. He cast his gaze over toward the planning department. At this exact time, it happened to be off-hours, and everyone was shutting down their computers and packing up to leave. Yet, Xu Nanxin’s workstation was already completely empty.
“Where is Xu Nanxin?”
Yang Xuan was packing up her things and preparing to clock out when the sudden voice above her head gave her a fright. She raised her eyes and saw Ji Li standing before her desk, though she had no idea when he had arrived.
“President Ji?” Yang Xuan hurriedly put down her things and stood up straight.
“Mm.” Ji Li gave a faint response, clearly still waiting for an answer.
Seeing him standing there waiting, Yang Xuan finally snapped out of it and replied, “Nanxin left as soon as it was time to clock out. Is there something you need him for, sir?”
Truth be told, she was breaking a sweat on Xu Nanxin’s behalf. After all, whenever Ji Li came looking for someone personally, nine times out of ten it boded no good.
Ji Li glanced at the time. It was currently only one minute past five o’clock. He really did clock out exactly on the dot.
“It’s nothing.” Ji Li was definitely going to seek out Xu Nanxin. But since the other party had kept him in the dark for so long, he ought to return the favor out of courtesy. He would just wait until their meeting next week to see what the youth had to say.
He also wanted to see what kind of explanation Xu Nanxin could come up with after dragging it out for such a long time.
Having said his piece, Ji Li was about to turn around and head back into his office. Seeing him about to leave, Yang Xuan worried for Xu Nanxin, fearing that Ji Li might hold some dissatisfaction against him, so she called out to offer an explanation:
“Actually… Nanxin usually works very diligently. Even when he doesn’t work overtime, he typically leaves a little later than everyone else. He only left in such a hurry today because he had an appointment.”
There was fundamentally nothing wrong with an employee off-clocking on time. However, that didn’t stop certain leaders from feeling that leaving right on the dot meant the employee wasn’t dedicated to their work.
Xu Nanxin was just unlucky. His usual diligent work hadn’t been noticed, yet the one time he clocked out right on the dot, he happened to get caught red-handed.
Mainly, Xu Nanxin was still a relatively new rookie, and Ji Li held exceptionally high standards for his employees.
Hearing this, Ji Li paused his steps, glanced slightly askance, and said, “Leaving on time is a very normal thing. My requirement is simply that the work is completed well.”
Only after hearing these words did Yang Xuan breathe a sigh of relief for Xu Nanxin. From the looks of it, Ji Li wasn’t entirely devoid of humanity. But still, what on earth did he want with Xu Nanxin?
Should she send Xu Nanxin a message to warn him that Ji Li had been looking for him, just so he could be a bit mentally prepared?
After weighing it back and forth, Yang Xuan ultimately typed out a message to inform Xu Nanxin.
Inside the office.
Ji Li dialed He Feng’s mobile number. Combining this with the inexplicable ways He Feng had targeted Xu Nanxin a few days ago, it was difficult not to suspect whether the man had known all along that Xu Nanxin was Little Rabbit.
The phone only rang a few times before it was picked up.
“Hey there, busy man Ji. What’s up?”
He Feng’s lazy voice drifted from the receiver, accompanied by a very noisy background on his end. Ji Li frowned and moved the phone a bit further away.
“Regarding Xu Nanxin’s matter, did you know about it from the very beginning?”
“Ah? Which matter?” He Feng raised his volume.
Ji Li didn’t say a word, simply waiting in silence. Sensing that it was no fun, He Feng presumably signaled to his surroundings, as the noisy commotion on his end naturally died down. Only then did he speak up: “Why do you always have to be like this?”