“Supervisor Jiang is truly wonderful to his subordinates, always looking out for Nanxin like that,” He Feng remarked, casting a sidelong glance at Xu Nanxin.
Jiang Yiyuan paid no mind to the blatant sarcasm. He simply replied, “Mr. He, outside of work, you can just call me Jiang Yiyuan. Besides, Nanxin isn’t my subordinate.”
“Jiang Yiyuan? Why is it that I always see you smiling at everyone else, yet you consistently give me the cold shoulder?” Letting go of his pursuit of Xu Nanxin, He Feng turned his focus onto sparring with Jiang Yiyuan instead.
Hearing this, Jiang Yiyuan took advantage of a red light to turn his head and offer He Feng a gentle, good-natured smile. As if he were entirely devoid of a temper, he said airily, “That must surely be your misconception, Mr. He.”
He Feng: “……”
Talking to this kind of person was the absolute most frustrating thing. It felt exactly like punching a ball of cotton. Losing interest entirely, he shut his mouth, and the interior of the car finally fell into silence.
Jiang Yiyuan dropped Sheng Lu off first before driving Xu Nanxin to his building. Getting out of the car, Xu Nanxin waved to Jiang Yiyuan. “I’m heading up now. Watch your safety on the drive back, Brother Yuan.”
“Alright, see you at the company,” Jiang Yiyuan nodded gently.
Walking upstairs, Xu Nanxin unlocked his phone and saw a message from Sheng Lu asking if he had made it home. He replied with a quick “I’m home.” Just as he turned his key to open the front door, his phone buzzed again. He tapped it open to read.
Sheng Lu: I think Mr. Jiang is a pretty good catch. Why don’t you give it a shot?
Xu Nanxin: “……”
Xu Nanxin: Don’t make blind jokes like that. Brother Yuan is my boss.
Sheng Lu: I see how well he treats you. It’s not out of the question that he has feelings for you, you know. If that guy surnamed He hadn’t barged in tonight, you two definitely would have talked a lot more.
Xu Nanxin didn’t reply further.
Sheng Lu knew perfectly well that Xu Nanxin obviously still couldn’t let go of that “Mr. Z.” Even if they truly broke up in the end, there was no telling when he would actually be able to move on. That was precisely why Sheng Lu wanted him to meet more people. Xu Nanxin’s gaze shouldn’t remain fixed solely on Mr. Z; he had completely forgotten that sometimes, he needed to look at the world around him.
Once the weekend came to an end, Xu Nanxin returned to the office.
Not long after he sat down at his workstation, he overheard his colleagues discussing how several of the interns who had joined in the same batch as him had just been fired by Ji Li.
Xu Nanxin’s body instinctively stiffened. What was going on? So when Ji Li had called him in privately before to tell him he was being given an extra two months, it hadn’t been targeted at him alone—it applied to all the interns across the board!
Recalling what Yang Xuan had said about Ji Li looking for him before clocking out on Friday afternoon, Xu Nanxin’s heart began to thump with anxiety. Could he have been called in just to be told he was fired?
Xu Nanxin couldn’t decide whether he should proactively go and ask. But since Ji Li hadn’t summoned him yet, he was at least safe for the time being, right?
He booted up his computer. Holding onto a shred of wishful thinking, he had only been sitting there for a brief moment when Liu Li walked out of Ji Li’s office and came straight over to him. “President Ji wants you to go to his office.”
Xu Nanxin’s movements froze. He instinctively looked up at Liu Li and asked, “Did President Ji mention what it’s about?”
“No.” Liu Li was merely delivering the message. Her strictly professional demeanor made it entirely impossible to glean even a hint of Ji Li’s intentions from her words.
She truly was a secretary handpicked by Ji Li himself.
Xu Nanxin stood up and dragged his feet toward the executive office. Reaching the entrance, he hovered for a good while before finally raising his hand to knock. To his surprise, the door opened from the inside.
Startled, Xu Nanxin hastily took a few steps back. He was met with Ji Li’s sharply defined face—a high nose bridge, cold and indifferent eyes, and slightly pursed thin lips. It was a face that looked more exceptionally handsome the closer one got. At the same time, it was a face that exerted an immense amount of pressure the closer one stood.
“President Ji,” Xu Nanxin quickly averted his gaze from Ji Li’s face, his heart hammering erratically. If he hadn’t undergone annual physical examinations confirming his heart was perfectly healthy, he would have genuinely suspected he had developed a heart condition during this recent period.
“Mmh, come on in.” Ji Li’s tone carried a rare lack of coldness. Though Xu Nanxin couldn’t quite tell the difference, given how incredibly tense he became whenever he faced Ji Li.
“Alright.” Xu Nanxin nodded, stepping slightly to the side to enter Ji Li’s office.
The interior looked identical to his previous visits, with nothing out of place. On the coffee table next to the sofa lay a portion of breakfast alongside a bottle of milk.
Standing beside the office desk, Xu Nanxin didn’t dare carelessly touch any of Ji Li’s things. He stood waiting for two or three minutes before Ji Li walked back in. The man was holding a cup of coffee; Xu Nanxin hadn’t even noticed earlier that he had taken a cup out with him.
Anyone with a bit of situational awareness would have taken the cup right then and offered to refill it. While it might have seemed a bit sycophantic, he would have infinitely preferred brewing coffee outside over letting his thoughts run wild while waiting alone for Ji Li in the office.
“President Ji, did you need me for something?” Xu Nanxin’s gaze followed Ji Li. To be honest, he was genuinely terrified that Ji Li was about to fire him, despite feeling that his performance recently had been quite decent.
“Have you eaten breakfast?” Ji Li asked.
“Huh?” Xu Nanxin was completely stunned. He had no idea why Ji Li would ask such a question, but his brain instinctively answered, “No…”
He was never one to care much for breakfast anyway. Since starting work, the number of times he had eaten breakfast could be counted on one hand. After all, using precious morning time to get a bit of extra sleep felt like the only right way to treat himself.
“There’s breakfast on the table. Go ahead and eat some first,” Ji Li indicated the food sitting on the coffee table.
Xu Nanxin looked over, more baffled than ever by Ji Li’s intentions.
“No, it’s fine. Thank you.”
How could he possibly dare to eat it?!
“Go on,” Ji Li urged, his voice carrying a rare, gentle warmth.
Fearing that Ji Li might lose his patience, Xu Nanxin could only nod with trepidation. “Then… thank you, President Ji.”
He walked over to the table and sat down stiffly. He couldn’t help but feel that Ji Li’s attitude today was far too bizarre—it felt like the special treatment a prisoner receives right before an execution.
Laid out on the table were custard buns and fried sesame balls, exactly a single portion. This isn’t some kind of last meal, is it?
Xu Nanxin took a bite, choking slightly as his own absurd thought startled him. The sound of his coughing cut sharply through the quiet office. He looked up at Ji Li in embarrassment.
“There’s milk on the table, take your time.” A hint of amusement actually laced Ji Li’s voice. He hadn’t realized before just how entertaining it could be to tease a kid.
Of course, that only applied because it was the person he liked.
Xu Nanxin’s reactions were incredibly endearing. Perhaps beauty truly was in the eye of the beholder, because ever since discovering that the youth was his “Little Rabbit,” Ji Li found his gaze lingering on him more and more, noticing things he had completely overlooked in the past.
“Thank you…” Xu Nanxin wondered if his ears were playing tricks on him. Did he really just hear a trace of amusement in Ji Li’s voice?
Yet looking at Ji Li’s face now, it remained as unreadable and identical to usual as ever. Xu Nanxin picked up the bottle of milk, punctured it with the straw, and took a sip. Only after swallowing did he think to ask an afterthought: “President Ji, have you eaten?”
“Mmh.” Ji Li already seemed to have begun his work. Taking two sips of his coffee, he set it aside and began reviewing the documents on his desk.
Not wanting to waste any time, Xu Nanxin scarfed down the rest of the breakfast as quickly as possible. Standing up, he said, “I’m finished eating. President Ji, is there something you needed to discuss with me?”
Eating this breakfast had been pure agony. He felt as though it would take an entire week just to digest it.