Since working with Gong Nanxing, Qiao Xi heard him ask a genuine question filled with bewilderment for the very first time. In the past, Mr. Gong’s questions were always aggressive interrogations, nothing like the blank expression he wore right now. Wait a minute? What did he just ask? Funding the little calf?
“Er… Mr. Gong, are you planning to fund his university education?”
“Forget it. He works so hard precisely because he wants to rely on his own abilities. Besides, we are not close enough for me to have the standing to help him.” Gong Nanxing gazed into the distance for a moment. Reason once again occupied the high ground of his mind as he returned to his boss’s chair and sat down.
Not being close was true, but you had already eaten two meals cooked by him and you were still not close? Qiao Xi muttered silently to herself while placing the new marketing proposal sent by the new media department onto Mr. Gong’s desk.
“Mr. Gong, this is the proposal for the National Day off-peak travel campaign, ‘Urban Wilderness,’ that you mentioned last time. Please take a look.”
Returning to a work state, Gong Nanxing had no other thoughts to spare on messy distractions. Scanning the tourist spots and shooting intentions listed in the proposal ten lines at a time, he pondered for a few seconds and came up with a new idea.
“Try contacting the culture and tourism authorities for this project to see if we can get an official endorsement. Focus on communicating cooperation with mature travel platforms and travel agencies to see if we can plan short, small-scale urban weekend tour routes. We will provide brand camping equipment and early shooting publicity, and we can discuss the rest of the funding.”
Hearing his strategic layout, Qiao Xi still admired Gong Nanxing’s ambition.
Indeed, grabbing a share of brand sales could make someone a fortune, but in terms of influence, their brand needed to align with the culture and tourism sector in the future. However, biting off such a tough bone right at the brand’s inception was no easy feat. Presumably, Mr. Gong was just testing the waters first, and pushing forward cooperation with the tourism industry would be the best possible outcome.
However, bringing Gong Nanxing’s vision to reality was certainly not easy. The entire Mountain office building remained brightly lit until nightfall. Gong Nanxing himself had spent almost the entire afternoon making phone calls, and when he finally caught a breather, his ears felt slightly numb. Seeing that he had some free time, Qiao Xi dared to seize the opportunity to step into his office and ask what he wanted for dinner. It was long past mealtime, and the unified boxed lunches ordered earlier could not be reheated for Mr. Gong, having been distributed among the employees long ago.
“Assistant Qiao, you do not need to worry about me. Go off work and head home; I will handle it myself.”
To be honest, after working until this hour, a person truly had zero appetite. Qiao Xi could understand Gong Nanxing’s current state, but she honestly could not understand why a scion of a wealthy family, and the youngest child at that, still had to work so desperately. Regardless, she was finally able to clock out. Leaving behind the remark, “Mr. Gong, please remember to eat,” Qiao Xi slipped away as if her feet were oiled.
Gong Nanxing sat for a moment, relaxed his neck, and prepared to head home as well. On second thought, returning home right now meant there would be no food waiting for him either. With a gloomy expression, he just stood up when his phone suddenly vibrated. Expecting another work notification, Gong Nanxing impatiently swiped open the chat box, only to find a message popped up from the little calf.
“Mr. Gong, I passed by downstairs at the company and saw your lights were still on! Should I send a voice note to practice tonight’s exercise homework, or come straight up to report to you?”
A chef delivered straight to your doorstep… oh wait, a student.
Pulling a thoroughly villainous smile, Gong Nanxing suddenly felt his neck stopped hurting and his ears stopped feeling numb. He rapidly typed out two dish names and sent them over, asking the little calf if he knew how to cook them.
“Steak and scrambled eggs with shrimp? Yes, I do, I learned both in the back kitchen of a Western restaurant.”
“Wait for me downstairs.”
Since Gong Nanxing said so, the little calf obediently stood under the trees by the office building and waited. Before long, a familiar champagne-colored Bentley pulled up in front of him. It was the same luxurious car he had taken to Mr. Gong’s place last time, a model that even someone completely clueless about luxury cars like the little calf could instantly tell was very expensive.
The little calf light-footedly opened the car door, quietly placed his old school bag on the floor mat, and carefully pulled out the seatbelt to fasten it before daring to take a proper breath and greet Gong Nanxing.
“Mr. Gong, hello, are you off work now?”
After yesterday’s intensive training, the calf’s Mandarin proficiency had evolved from chaotic to baffling. He would retroactively add retroflex sounds to syllables that did not require them, and his previously roller-coaster intonation was now deliberately suppressed. Gong Nanxing could not help letting out a soft chuckle, glancing sideways at the passenger seat. With that spoken English combined with the calf’s healthy skin tone, one would think a foreigner had just stepped into his car.
“Yeah. Didn’t you always tell me you wanted to cook for me? So I figured I might as well let you cook a meal at my place.”
“Great! Right when I was on duty just now, I kept practicing my pronunciation, I will read it to you in a bit and you can listen.”
Listening to the little calf jabbering away in that strange speech once more, Gong Nanxing managed to suppress the corners of his mouth, though his eyes still betrayed a hint of amusement: “Really? Who taught you to use retroflex endings?”
“My coworkers! Hey, you are laughing at me again! Drop me off at the supermarket ahead, I need to buy groceries.” The little calf pouted. He felt his progress had been huge, so why did Mr. Gong still find his speech so funny? “Wow! It is exactly eight-thirty right now, the supermarket is about to start robbing us!”
Why would a supermarket rob people?
Gong Nanxing was baffled, but he still parked the car and followed behind the little calf, who was pushing a shopping cart. In truth, he loathed visiting supermarkets; the poor ventilation and stuffy air made him deeply uncomfortable. However, the little calf mentioned checking many household consumables yesterday that were running dangerously low, and since his Director Gong was notoriously picky about brands and flavors while the calf could not tell quality apart, Gong Nanxing had no choice but to accompany him and pick items personally.
Before rows of dazzling shelves, Gong Nanxing could only bite the bullet and grab necessities based on daily memory, while the little calf stood beside him, meticulously noting each item down in a small notebook like a seasoned butler. After walking around for a bit, the clock struck eight-thirty. The little calf immediately grabbed the shopping cart and rushed toward the fresh produce section, swiftly grabbing the ingredients before Gong Nanxing could even figure out the situation, and hurriedly rushed Gong Nanxing back to check out and leave.
“So what you are saying is, the exact same groceries are thirty percent off after eight-thirty at the supermarket, and if we do not hurry, the checkout lines will get too crowded.”
“Mm-mm! Am I smart?” The little calf led his spoils of victory, proudly flashing his achievement to Gong Nanxing, completely unbothered by whether the other person could share his point of joy. After all, he had secured sea shrimp at an ultra-low price!
“Not bad, calf. You even strategize when buying groceries.”
Gong Nanxing rarely saw the usually timid little calf display such a high-spirited demeanor in front of him. After all, grocery shopping was also a rare blind spot for Director Gong himself, so he figured he should give the young man a chance to show off, graciously offering a word of praise.
In high spirits, the little calf hummed an unidentifiable tune while cooking dinner. Gong Nanxing sat at the dining table munching on an apple, thinking to himself that this calf might have a terrible command of Mandarin, but his humming was equally off-key.
With practiced efficiency, Gong Nanxing quickly realized that the calf’s claim of having worked in a Western-restaurant kitchen was no exaggeration. His movements were as brisk as if he were expediting dishes in a commercial kitchen. Two burners fired up simultaneously, one searing steak while the other boiled side dishes, and the calf handled the prawns right by the sink. The moment the steaks were flipped and the sides were done, he immediately plated them, washed the pan, and whipped up the scrambled eggs with shrimp. Finally, both dishes were served simultaneously in front of Gong Nanxing, and before he even noticed, a bowl of soup magically appeared from the steam oven.
“Stop cleaning up, want to eat together?”
The little calf’s non-stop chores made Gong Nanxing feel slightly embarrassed, but because the calf needed to maintain his physique and touched nothing after dark, he ended up using his chopsticks alone.
“How many jobs did you work to practice this kind of culinary skill?”
“It is nothing. I cooked at home too. When Dad and Mom were busy, I cooked for my younger brothers and sisters.” Cleaning up the stove, the calf thought it would be nicer to have company while eating, so he pulled up a chair and sat down right next to Gong Nanxing.
“You are the eldest brother, no wonder you are so capable.”
“Hehe, my name Asu means door pillar in our dialect. As an older brother, you have to support the family.”
Mu Asu sounded like a rather unique name at first, and it literally meant a door pillar. Looking at the tall, bronze-skinned, slightly curly-haired little calf, Gong Nanxing felt the name suited him well; at the very least, he looked sturdy.
“I am the youngest at home and have never been an older brother. Sometimes I feel rather embarrassed being taken care of someone younger than me like you.”
Having filled his stomach, Gong Nanxing’s mood improved considerably, so he began chatting casually with the little calf. Who would have expected that mid-conversation, the calf’s expression would suddenly shift, his tanned cheeks blushing slightly, his lips pursed in hesitation. Gong Nanxing thought to himself that even if the calf brought up family hardships right now, he was determined to help however he could, so he offered a rare, gentle smile to encourage the calf to continue.
“Actually… I feel like Mr. Gong really takes good care of me. You gave me such a great job opportunity, and even though my abilities were lacking you did not chase me away and instead taught me Mandarin… Especially being so far from home, meeting a boss like Mr. Gong makes me feel extremely lucky… So, Mr. Gong…”
“Hmm?”
Although unclear about the specifics of the calf’s family situation, Gong Nanxing had already mentally tallied the liquid balances of his available bank cards and silently calculated a sum.
“Can I… call you older brother?”