Chapter 36 You two are using the same perfume…

Zhou Shilin printed two copies of the photo, one for himself and one for Shen Ci. Shen Ci put her copy of the photo into her bag and took a bite of the matcha cake on the table.

"Mmm, it tastes really good." She looked at Zhou Shilin across from her with bright eyes.

Zhou Shilin ordered the orange mousse for himself. He had already taken a bite and thought it tasted good: "This orange mousse is quite delicious. You can try it next time you come to play."

Chen Ci held a fork in her hand, looked at him, and winked: "Can I try a bite of your orange mousse?"

Zhou Shilin looked up and saw Chen Ci holding a fork and gesturing in front of the orange mousse: "I'll just fork a small piece from the side you haven't tried before."

Zhou Shilin reached out and pushed the orange mousse toward Chen Ci: "Please go ahead."

Chen Ci happily took a fork and cut a corner of the orange mousse, her movements careful, as if afraid of collapsing the cake. After forking a piece, she put it in her mouth and gave Zhou Shilin a thumbs up: "No wonder it was recommended by President Zhou, I'll order this next time I come."

Looking at her enjoying the food, Zhou Shilin asked curiously, "Is there anything you find unpalatable?"

“Yes.” Chen Ci gently bit her fork and nodded. “I made the omelet rice myself.”

Zhou Shilin: "..."

So just how awful must it be to make her crave it so much?

After finishing their afternoon tea at the dog cafe, it was about time for the two to head to Uncle Li's place. Before leaving, Chen Ci sent a message to Gouwa, then slung her bag over her shoulder and walked out of the dog cafe with Zhou Shilin.

"It was supposed to be your birthday, but you ended up spending money to take me to the dog cafe." Zhou Shilin paid for everything in the afternoon. Chen Ci didn't see a price list in the store, but given the scale of this dog cafe, it must be expensive for one person.

Zhou Shilin unlocked the car and walked towards the driver's seat: "Didn't you also give me a birthday present?"

"Oh right." Chen Ci opened the car door and got in with Zhou Shilin. "You haven't opened my gift yet. Do you want to open it and take a look now?"

“Okay.” Zhou Shilin had originally planned to open it when he got home, but since Chen Ci had said so, it wasn’t impossible to open it now. He took the gift from the car and removed the greeting card first.

"Happy birthday, Zhou Shilin! May you make a fortune!" Zhou Shilin looked at the line of words on the card and slightly raised an eyebrow. "There's a little person drawn between the two characters for 'make a fortune.' Did you misspell it?"

"...How could that be? I designed this on purpose!" Shen Ci would never admit that she could misspell even the simple words "get rich" without paying attention. "Take a closer look at the chibi figure I drew. Doesn't it look a bit like you?"

Zhou Shilin took a closer look. Whether it was the hair color, hairstyle, or that cold expression, it did resemble him somewhat: "There is a resemblance, but what is that thing on his head? Cheese?"

“Yes!” Chen Ci nodded vigorously. “It seems my drawing is quite lifelike. My childhood drawing lessons weren’t wasted.”

Zhou Shilin asked, "But why do I have cheese on my head?"

"Hmph." Chen Ci chuckled mysteriously, looking somewhat smug. "Well, this is just one of my little tricks."

"...I would like to hear the details."

"Cheese sounds like your name!"

"..." Zhou Shilin carefully considered the homophone, "How did you manage to make that homophone?"

Chen Ci said, "Zhou Shilin, Zhishi Lin, don't they sound somewhat similar?"

"..."

"And cheese is power; you have both knowledge and power!"

“…Thank you.” Zhou Shilin put away the thoughtfully designed card and unwrapped the gift. “Perfume?”

"Hmm! I spent a long time choosing this scent. Why don't you try it and see if you like it?"

"Can I return it if I don't like it?"

"...If you don't like it, I'll take it back and use it myself."

Zhou Shilin chuckled almost imperceptibly, opened the perfume bottle, and sprayed a little into the car.

A refreshing, light fragrance filled the car. Chen Ci sniffed it and said to Zhou Shilin beside her, "The top notes of this perfume are very refreshing, somewhat similar to the cedar you used before. The middle and base notes become sweeter and sweeter, just like you, the more you appreciate it, the sweeter it becomes."

Zhou Shilin: "..."

He had lived for twenty-eight years and had heard all sorts of comments about him, but this was the first time someone had described him as sweet.

Chen Ci leaned slightly towards him, staring at him intently: "Are you shy?"

“…What’s your understanding of the word ‘shy’?” He put the perfume back in the box and placed it next to the greeting card. “Sit tight, I’m leaving.”

"Oh." Chen Ci adjusted her posture and smiled with a slight upturn of her lips.

The previous two times he came to the old district, the driver took him. This time, Zhou Shilin drove himself and was much more cautious than the driver. The car stopped in the parking space opposite Uncle Li's restaurant. When Jinmao saw the luxury car driving over, he knew it must be Zhou Shilin.

He made a special trip to the other side of the road to meet the two of them.

"Mr. Zhou, Feifei told me it's your birthday today. Happy birthday! May you have boundless happiness and longevity!" As soon as Zhou Shilin and Shen Ci got out of the car, the golden retriever offered his sincere blessings.

Chen Ci corrected him: "The saying 'May your happiness be as boundless as the Eastern Sea and your longevity as enduring as the Southern Mountain' is only used for grand birthday celebrations."

“Who says 28 can’t be a big birthday? I celebrated my big birthday when I was 18.” The blond man said, then his nose suddenly twitched. “Why do I think I smell perfume?”

He leaned closer as he spoke, his nose as sensitive as the dog Chen Ci had seen that afternoon: "That's right, it's the smell on you guys, and it smells quite nice."

After he finished speaking, he suddenly paused, and his gaze towards the person in front of him became anything but innocent: "You two are using the same perfume, isn't that a bit ambiguous?"

"...You talk too much."

Upon hearing Chen Ci's words, the blond-haired man immediately covered his mouth and gestured for them to proceed. Chen Ci and Zhou Shilin walked towards Uncle Li's restaurant. The blond-haired man led them to the seats reserved for them before speaking again: "One serving of each flavor of crayfish today?"

"Mm." Chen Ci nodded in agreement.

“Okay, we’ve got everything ready. Uncle Li even made cheesy baked lobster.” To be honest, if it weren’t for Zhou Shilin’s birthday today, he wouldn’t have known that Uncle Li could make this kind of dish. “Then you guys sit down first, I’ll go get you some drinks.”

Just like last time, Chen Ci got Zhou Shilin a disposable apron and had him put his suit jacket on it: "I think Uncle Li really should get air conditioning installed here."

Zhou Shilin took off his coat and rolled up the cuffs: "Why don't we just move to a bigger store and upgrade many of the kitchen facilities?"

“But Uncle Li lives here, so he probably doesn’t want to move too far away.”

Zhou Shilin thought for a moment and said to her, "We can see if there are any shops for sale or sublet nearby. I can have Tian Xu keep an eye out and let you know if there are any suitable ones."

“If you were President Zhou, you wouldn’t be so dedicated to work even on your birthday.” Chen Ci cleared her throat and sat up straighter. “In that case, why don’t I also report a new project to President Zhou?”

Zhou Shilin looked at her: "What project?"

"We've worked with Shijie before, and it went very well. I was thinking that I'd like to have the opportunity to work with President Zhou a second time."

The word "second collaboration" made Zhou Shilin chuckle: "How do you plan to collaborate secondly?"

Chen Ci said, "I heard that Shijie will be participating in the International Science and Technology Expo held in City A in October? I would like to take this opportunity to do a joint event with Shijie."

Zhou Shilin nodded, signaling her to continue.

"Pupu Paradise now has nearly a hundred chain stores covering the whole country and has successfully held two PW events, so it has a certain influence in the industry. Our audience is mainly young people, who are more receptive to new things. For example, Shijie's robot dog and robots were very popular at PW, and there were always long queues at Shijie's booth to experience them. Shijie participates in the comic convention to develop this audience. They have a strong willingness and ability to pay. Through the collaboration, we can help Shijie expand its audience, while Shijie can further help us increase our influence. It's a win-win situation!"

The golden retriever who was bringing them dessert: "..."

No wonder he's a successful person; even while celebrating his birthday with crayfish, he's still discussing business!

With this kind of spirit, it's hard not to succeed.

After putting down the dessert, he silently turned and left. After listening to what Chen Ci said, Zhou Shilin thought for a while and said, "Write a detailed plan, and I will recommend you to be the person in charge of this technology expo. You two can talk to each other in person."

“Okay.” Chen Ci picked up the dessert on the table and clinked bowls with his. “Thank you, Mr. Zhou, for helping me make a fortune.”

Zhou Shilin's lips curled into a slight smile: "Is this what you call making money? You're quite easily satisfied."

"...Well, after all, I wouldn't dare to dream even the biggest dreams."

Zhou Shilin picked up the bowl in front of him and tapped it against the heavy porcelain: "It wouldn't hurt to make one."

"..." What does that mean? Then she'll have to think of a name for the child already.

"Sister Feifei, your baked lobster with cheese is ready." Gouwa personally came out to deliver this special birthday lobster dish to them. The guests sitting next to them saw the lobster on their table and exclaimed, "You even have lobster here? Can I have one too?"

Gouwa said, "This was specially prepared for President Zhou's birthday; it wasn't on the menu."

“Yes, yes, Mr. Zhou helped us last time, and this is a special way for us to thank him.” Golden Hair also came up and explained to the guests.

When the restaurant suddenly closed down, many neighbors heard various rumors and came to ask Uncle Li for information. Mr. Zhou's name was already widely known back then, so the customers weren't really asking for lobsters; they were just jokingly saying, "So this is the famous Mr. Zhou! I've never met you before, but I'm so glad to meet you today. Happy birthday! Enjoy your meal!"

"Thank you." Zhou Shilin thanked the guests at the next table, then looked back at the lobster on the table. "Uncle Li, this lobster is quite well made."

Chen Ci nodded in agreement: "And it's cheese-flavored, which goes well with Cheese Rin."

Zhou Shilin: "..."

Tonight's all-shrimp feast was incredibly satisfying. When we left Uncle Li's restaurant, Chen Ci was so full she could barely walk: "I should have known better than to eat so much at the dog cafe this afternoon."

She had planned to eat less at noon to save room for dinner, but Zhou Shilin took her to a dog café. Playing with dogs is really tiring, so she couldn't resist eating a few extra bites at the dog café.

Zhou Shilin said, "It's okay, go home and exercise for a while before going to sleep."

Chen Ci tilted her head to look at him: "Are you going to exercise after you get home?"

"Um."

"You're so lucky." Chen Ci laughed. "I'm going to write a project proposal when I get home."

"..." There's no need to be in such a hurry.

Chen Ci didn't want to rush things, but with Zhou Shilin's birthday over, September was just around the corner, and the technology expo was during the National Day holiday. If she didn't come up with the joint proposal soon, she was afraid she wouldn't make it in time.

"Aren't you the director now? You can delegate the work to your subordinates instead of doing it all by yourself."

Chen Ci said, "But it's late at night, and it's the weekend. If I call someone to work, I'll be cursed with circles drawn on my face."

Zhou Shilin said, "Being scolded is the fate of leaders."

"..." Chen Ci looked at him, "I don't think any employee would dare to scold you, right?"

"The employees are alright; if they're going to scold someone, it's behind their back. But many competitors scold people to their faces."

"Hahaha, I could tell they were on the defensive!"

Zhou Shilin remained noncommittal: "Don't stay up too late. A good proposal can't be written by staying up all night once."

"..." It sounds like she's starting to lose her composure too.

After Zhou Shilin dropped Chen Ci off at home, he drove away. Once home, Chen Ci took out her laptop and prepared to write a rough proposal. She had only written half of it when she received a message from Zhou Shilin informing her that he had already given her business card to the person in charge at Shijie.

The next second, someone added her as a friend.

Chen Ci: "..."

We should learn from President Zhou's mindset; he makes people work overtime late at night without any psychological burden.

Shen Ci added the other person as a contact, and the other person greeted her warmly: "Hello, Ms. Shen, I am Miao Duo. I am in charge of Shijie's participation in the Science and Technology Expo this time."

Chen Ci: Hello, Mr. Miao, this is Chen Ci. It's a pleasure to meet you! It's getting late, so I'll send you the proposal for review tomorrow during the day, is that alright?

Miao Duo: Okay [rose emoji]

Submerged porcelain: [rose]

Shen Ci finished the rough draft of the proposal overnight. When she took it out at the morning meeting the next day, Wu Junnan was dumbfounded: "I thought you were just fooling me when you said you were going to talk to President Zhou about the project. I didn't expect you to actually go and talk about a project?"

Chen Ci said, "Don't you know me? When I say we're talking about a project, I really mean it."

"..." It's really hard on you to not forget your work even when you're in the middle of your relationship. "Ahem, anyway, this collaboration plan is pretty good, it just needs some more refinement of the specific details."

"Okay, I'll hold another group meeting later and try to finish the first version by this morning."

“Okay.” Wu Junnan looked at Chen Ci and said the phrase he often used, “I told you, our company can’t do without our junior sister.”

"..." Thank you. She can't leave the company now either; she's going to work for the company in the same direction.

After a morning of hard work by the team, Chen Ci finally finished the first draft of the plan and sent it to Miao Duo. After reviewing it, Miao Duo created a work group and asked Chen Ci to add the people from Pupu Paradise to it as well.

In the next few minutes, the working group for the World Expo X Pupu Paradise collaboration kept getting joined, with people exchanging emojis and greeting each other, creating a lively atmosphere.

That is, until Zhou Shilin joined the group.