Even though Gong Nanxing had his own private reservations about the final cut of the first promotional commercial, the advertisement went live as scheduled amidst widespread anticipation.
“Mr. Gong, our first video has received an incredible response, and the platform team even said they want to give us app splash screen promotion!” Qiao Xi reported the latest news to Gong Nanxing with undisguised joy on her face. The latter’s expression, however, remained as gloomy as ever, as if this success had nothing to do with Mr. Gong at all.
“Got it. Little Bull and the others are shooting the second set today, right?” Evidently unwilling to dwell on that advertisement, Gong Nanxing shifted the topic to today’s work agenda.
“Yes, today they are shooting at the city park, and they should be wrapping up and returning to the company soon.”
“Alright. When he gets back, if I’m not here, have him wait for me in my office.” With a somber face, Gong Nanxing turned and headed out.
Remembering that he had a video conference in the meeting room today, and thankfully the preparation work was handled by another department so she didn’t have to worry about it, Qiao Xi figured it would be a day she could slack off. Happily scrolling through short videos to kill time until the afternoon, she saw the shooting had finished when Little Bull texted her. True to his word, he grabbed his schoolbag and arrived at the floor of Gong Nanxing’s office. Seeing the tall, tanned giant waving outside the glass door, Qiao Xi finally snapped back to reality and unlocked the door for him.
“Hello, Sister Qiao.”
“Wow, Little Bull, your Mandarin has improved so much!” Feeling slightly guilty, Qiao Xi fetched a beverage for Little Bull. Since there really wasn’t any other work to rush through today, the two of them sat in the reception area, chatting idly while waiting for the hardworking Gong Nanxing to return.
“Hehe, I can feel it too. When I’m working part-time, everyone else says so as well.”
Little Bull scratched the back of his head bashfully. The rapid improvement in his Mandarin was entirely thanks to Gong Nanxing’s lethal glares and life-threatening lesson plans. Nowadays, whenever Little Bull worked part-time at a milk tea shop shaking drinks, he practically spelled out every single option on the menu using pinyin in his head. Sometimes, he would even accidentally blurt out and ask customers if they wanted some b-o-bo-a-ba-n-ai-chi-a-cha?
At the thought of sharing that awkward blank stare with customers, Little Bull’s cheeks turned a rosy red.
“Little Bull, working so many jobs must be exhausting. You need to take care of your health.”
Qiao Xi genuinely felt that the honest, well-behaved, and polite Little Bull was completely different from any other male model she had ever met. Every time she saw him, she had the uncanny illusion that a younger cousin from her hometown had come to visit. As a result, she couldn’t help wanting to look after him, though she had no idea where all this maternal instinct had suddenly come from.
Romance was unnecessary, but becoming a mother required zero pain.
“Thank you for caring, Sister Qiao. But my body is super strong, I’ll be fine.” To this day, Little Bull still hadn’t quite mastered the retroflex r sound naturally, and as soon as he said it, both of them couldn’t help laughing.
When Gong Nanxing returned to his office, the scene that greeted him was precisely the two of them chatting animatedly and laughing foolishly together. As he walked closer, he couldn’t help pondering why Little Bull always seemed to get along so well with women older than him. This kid was always playing the pig to eat the tiger, having already successfully tricked him into becoming his sworn older brother using this exact routine. Was he trying the same trick everywhere else, using his harmless, pure college-student smile to deceive all the female employees in their company who had long lost their guard against worldly charms?
Good grief, you little black cow!
With that thought, the gloom on Gong Nanxing’s face as he approached was even heavier than it had been in the morning. How should he describe it? It looked as though the King of Hell himself had just walked in and suffered an identity crisis. The terrifying figure stepped closer, and Little Bull’s animalistic instincts warned him that things were looking slightly ominous. Pulling his neck in, he stood up and turned around to greet Director Gong.
“You, come inside with me. Assistant Qiao, you can go do something else. I’m going to tutor Little Bull.”
Little Bull quickly tucked his tail in and acted like a proper cow, trying his best to minimize the presence of his tall and sturdy frame. Taking the standard dainty steps of a Japanese woman, he followed Gong Nanxing into the inner room. Then came a crisp swish, and the frosted glass partition was instantly covered by blinds, completely blocking out any view of what was happening inside.
What on earth is going on? What kind of classified lesson requires this kind of setup? Is he afraid I’ll steal his Mandarin lessons? Wanting to leave initially, Qiao Xi became more and more suspicious the more she thought about it. So, she decided to covertly stay behind and see what kind of tricks Mr. Unpredictable was pulling this time.
Feigning an interest in getting water, she stealthily approached the water cooler outside the partition door. It was a prime piece of real estate for eavesdropping, offering both proximity and the water dispenser as cover, truly a blessed location for sneaking around. Just as she cocked her ear to listen closely, the vague and intermittent sounds drifting from inside made her complexion grow more terrifying by the second.
“just hold it right inside, you are not allowed to spit it out!”
Gong Nanxing’s consistently deep voice echoed through the door crack, immediately followed by Little Bull’s muffled, indistinct murmurs, sounding as though his mouth was completely stuffed with something.
“Don’t stop. I didn’t tell you to stop, so don’t stop.”
Was this any sort of normal line to say in a normal situation? Qiao Xi’s pupils dilated in shock. What on earth? Is reality actually what I’m thinking, or do I just read way too many romance novels lately?
“How did I teach you usually? Didn’t you do pretty well last time when you were at my place?”
What did they do at his place? Did Mr. Gong have the cow come over every few days not just to teach him Mandarin, but to do housework to pay off a debt? Why was it that whenever she could hear clear sentences, it was always Mr. Gong speaking, while Little Bull’s speech was always slurred…
The more Qiao Xi listened, the more confused she became, and a vivid picture almost formed in her mind. Could it be that the slight sense of wrongness her sixth sense had picked up earlier had now actually developed to this point?
“Hey, you! Watch out, don’t swallow it!”
Before she could sort through her thoughts, an exclamation burst from Mr. Gong inside. Qiao Xi instantly felt everything click into place. Oh my god! Could it really be what I think it is? Hidden sugar-daddy rules?! How old is Little Bull! Even if he’s dark and muscular, Gong Nanxing is still a good six or seven years older than him at least!
Good grief! Mr. Gong always acts so upright; don’t tell me he’s secretly into cradle-robbing behind closed doors!
Qiao Xi couldn’t just stand there anymore. Anxiously clutching her phone, she wondered what to do now. Should she call the police? No, no, she needed to rush in right this second and capture video evidence; she couldn’t just let this capital-backed pervert get away with it! Nor could she let Little Bull call her Sister in vain!
“Mr. Gong! Please don’t do this kind of thing in the company!”
With that thought, she held her phone camera propped against her chest with one hand and forcefully shoved open the door to the inner office. For a split second, six eyeballs filled with three entirely different types of confusion locked gazes, transmitting shock to everyone present.
Huh? Why is Little Bull sitting in a chair, and Mr. Gong leaning against the desk, they aren’t stuck together at all?
“Wuwuwu… Wow! Big Brother! What do I do, I accidentally swallowed one!”
Startled by Qiao Xi’s sudden intrusion, Little Bull spat a handful of glass marbles out onto his hands and let out a wail, looking with a grievance-stricken face toward Gong Nanxing standing nearby.
Wait a minute? Why were they using glass marbles? So Little Bull was just holding glass marbles in his mouth the whole time?!
“M… Mr. Gong, what is going on here?” Qiao Xi quietly hid her recording phone behind her back and asked hesitatingly.
“Assistant Qiao, I should be the one asking you what is going on here, shouldn’t I?” Unaware that right through the door she had already cast him as a predatory corporate villain, Gong Nanxing could only raise the interview script he had just been coaching Little Bull on and spread his hands.
“Uh, I… I mean, won’t you and Little Bull studying during work hours affect your work today?”
Haha, no hidden rules, no perverts, no cradle-robbing, just me, a diligent employee worrying over the company’s future~ Qiao Xi awkwardly made up an excuse, trying her best to make her expression look sincere.
With an expression of utter speechlessness, Gong Nanxing took a deep breath and rattled off at top speed, “I’ve been working all day precisely so I could carve out time this afternoon to drill this cow on his Mandarin for these two pages of notes, so he can recite them in his sleep without a single syllable wrong before he goes to the offline National Day event!”
“Ahahaha, Mr. Gong, you are so dedicated. Having you here is an eight-lifetime blessing for the company; I admire and adore you to pieces. You carry on, I won’t disturb the two of you any longer.”
Remaining here any longer felt like a surefire way to get murdered by Gong Nanxing. Flattery and retreat blended into one smooth maneuver as Qiao Xi slipped away to save her own skin. At that moment, she didn’t just lack the courage to stay in the same office; she didn’t even dare stay on this entire floor!
Leaving aside Qiao Xi, who fled via elevator at warp speed, back in the room Little Bull was still using his phone camera to peer down his own throat, attempting to locate the missing marble. Seeing this, Gong Nanxing could only draw another deep breath, point toward the adjoining restroom, and tell Little Bull:
“Either you go make yourself throw up right now, or you wait until tomorrow.”
Having fished out the marble, Little Bull returned to the office, picked up a few new small spheres, stuffed them into his mouth once more, and babbled as he recited the interview script. Although he had no idea where Mr. Gong had dug up such a bizarre practice method, it actually seemed remarkably effective. The stiffness in his oral cavity whenever he spoke and the erratic wandering of his tongue during pronunciation were both neatly corrected by the rolling glass beads inside his mouth. After a few more tries, he finally managed to read through the entire script without a single error, and Gong Nanxing’s face finally flashed a long-absent smile.
This subtle change in expression was captured entirely by Little Bull, causing him to momentarily lose his train of thought. He thought to himself that even though Mr. Gong was so busy every day, he still went out of his way to invent methods to teach him Mandarin. His work was done brilliantly, and his teaching was top-notch, Mr. Gong was truly like an omnipotent deity…
“What are you doing? Staring at me like that?” Gong Nanxing had no idea why the cow had suddenly drifted off while looking at him, but with both cheeks still stuffed full of glass marbles, the kid looked somewhat comical yet oddly endearing, almost making him burst into laughter.
Coming back to his senses, Little Bull felt a bit embarrassed. Out of sheer habit, he swallowed hard, and a loud, resonant moo of a shout echoed through the office once again: “Ah? Big Brother! What do I do, I swallowed another one!”