Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Contagion.

Although her reaction was relatively calm as shown in the text, it was already difficult for her to show curiosity in such matters, not to mention allowing others to continue talking!

【Hahahahahahaha】

Tao Qingqing immediately burst into laughter: [A kind smile like an old mother.jpg]

He was being mysterious again, waiting for a while before happily revealing the secret: [Of course it’s thanks! ]

What do you think it is?

[Teacher Su is so beautiful? Is she really a good match for me?]

Su Tu: “…”

Not necessarily.

Maybe it was because of the cold, her cheeks were slightly rolled.

Thinking about how he suddenly received two photos of himself and not only didn't feel weird, but actually said thank you? I felt a little weird inside.

I couldn't understand his train of thought, so I could only switch the dialog box and try to explain that we were just joking and hoped he didn't mind.

Even though the words are typed, no matter how you look at it, it seems like an attempt to cover up something, which makes it look suspicious.

To avoid saying too much and making mistakes, I finally deleted everything and cleverly convinced myself:

Um…

Pretend not to know.

It’s also a good way to deal with it.

Thinking of this, I felt a little bit of self-satisfaction in my heart, and switched back to explain to Tao Qingqing:

[We can arrange for two room measurements on Monday morning. Yuejia and Zhaoxuan will be in one group, and Chen Weizhou and I will be in the other. I'll sort it out and send it to you later during the free time afterwards.]

【We are unable to accept calls from other places at the moment, please politely decline】

Of course, a surge in orders is a good thing.

But given the size of the studio, there is a very realistic problem: it cannot be absorbed.

She had thought about expanding, but firstly, the order volume was not stable enough and she was afraid that she could not afford to support the employees; secondly, any designer with a little bit of talent would probably look down on her small temple.

Even the assistants and interns were hired by chance, and they are not yet able to develop plans independently.

So she has no right to be lazy.

He sighed and got up from the sofa again.

Resigned to her fate, she returned to her workbench, grabbed the already cold takeout, and forced herself to eat with a pout, lest she crash before the revolution was even successful.

-

The alarm clock goes off at 8am on Monday morning.

When Su Tu woke up, he was completely dazed. His brain seemed to be floating in the clouds, but his body felt like it was filled with lead. No one was willing to listen to anyone else.

When she finally assembled herself, she finished the morning's measurement work with hazy eyes and heavy steps. When she returned to the studio, she happened to run into Yang Hao, who was about to leave because he couldn't wait for anyone.

His gloomy expression suddenly brightened up: "Teacher Su is back."

Su Tu: “…”

Today, four people went out at the same time, and only Tao Qingqing stayed in the studio to keep order. She had just said that she might not come back for the whole day, but she broke her promise on the spot.

He immediately stood up unwillingly, wanting to turn the tide, but was stopped by a look.

Su Tu smiled instead of getting angry, and his attitude was friendly: "Boss Yang, what's the matter?"

"Ah, it's nothing actually."

Yang Hao wanted to pretend to be magnanimous and beat around the bush for a while: "I'm free now, so I just came down to take a look."

Su Tu was also very considerate: "Then you take a seat, I'll go upstairs and get busy first."

“Hey——”

Yang Hao hurriedly stopped him: "Something's going on!"

Su Tu stopped and said, "You go ahead."

Being brought here so formally, he felt a little embarrassed to speak. He wanted to act as if it was nothing serious, but when he spoke, he still spoke with a competitive tone: "I just want to ask."

"Are you familiar with that Shi Shu?"

“Not familiar.”

Su Tu looked rational, not attracted by the so-called champion halo, and said decisively: "Ordinary customer."

This reaction undoubtedly surprised Yang Hao: "I told you! You are not such an unrealistic person. How could you be bribed by a meal of afternoon tea?"

This only bolstered his home-field stance, as if he had already won the game: "In that case, I think we should not easily accept other people's overtures."

"Especially for something like afternoon tea. It's not expensive anyway. If you want to eat it, just buy it yourself. There's no need to accept favors from others. It's not nice to make such a big deal out of such a small thing, is it?"

"really."

Su Tu was also surprised when he heard this: "I was still worried about how to bring this up with you, but I didn't expect that Mr. Yang had the same idea as me."

Yang Hao was stunned.

My mentality couldn't help but be elevated: "Do you think so too?"

Su Tu nodded: "Of course."

"That afternoon I already felt something was amiss, so I asked Xiao Tao to check. Wilson's afternoon tea costs 598 per serving."

She unlocked her phone, brought up the corresponding interface and showed it to him: "You requested 32 copies, so the total is 19,136."

Then he opened the payment code and smiled slightly: "Look, is it convenient for me to transfer it now?"

Yang Hao's eyelids twitched: "..."

I almost blurted out, "Twenty thousand yuan for an afternoon tea, are you going to rob me?"

Su Tu pretended not to notice and continued to flatter him: "I know that Mr. Yang has always been generous and considerate to his employees. Besides, afternoon tea is not expensive to begin with. If he can't even get involved in such a small matter, it will definitely not be good if he gives people a reason to criticize him."

Seeing that he still didn't move, she switched to the payment interface again, retreating to advance: "If you don't trust me to pass it on, I can also call him in person."

"Let's confirm with him together that this is the money you want to pay back to him, is that okay?"

…

Su Tu clicks to receive payment.

He sent the person away with an innocent look on his face, and only revealed a hint of cunning when he turned around and went upstairs. He opened the dialog box and transferred the amount he received intact.

Then he thought briefly.

Before I could figure out how to explain the origin of the money, the other party replied: [? ]

Su Tu was stunned for a moment, wondering if athletes usually carry their phones with them during training. He quickly typed: [Last Friday's afternoon tea money]

[You are Party A, so you should treat us]

As Party B, I also have the responsibility to control your budget to avoid unnecessary losses.

Shi Shu: [So?]

Su Tu had just gotten his money back through his own cleverness, and he couldn't help but feel a little proud and inflated. However, because they were separated by a screen, he couldn't help but jump out of his thoughts: "So you treat the guests you should treat, and I will recover the losses I should recover."

[Party A please respect Party B’s work achievements]

【Get your money now～】

After a few seconds, Shi Shu did as he was told.

She smiled and was about to put down her phone when a new message popped up on the other side: [Are you free tonight?]

Su Tu's smile froze: "..."

Thinking about the backlog of work, I can't say whether I'm irritated or not, but it does give me a bit of a headache: [Do you have any ideas for the plan?]

Shi Shu: [Hmm]

【There are some details I want to discuss with you】

Su Tu sighed and said, "Okay."

What time is it tonight? Do you want to come to the studio, or should I come find you?

He put it succinctly: [Six Points]

[Location: Nianfeng Fish Restaurant]

Thinking of the Weibo post he had just posted last night, which strangely overlapped with this one, Su Tu paused for a moment: "..."

If only we hadn't known each other before.

She probably suspected that the person he had a crush on was actually her.

-

In the evening.

When Su Tu was led into the private room by the waiter, Shi Shu was sitting in the middle of the screen. He was still wearing simple casual clothes, with neatly trimmed short hair, which made his features look particularly straight and his brow bones deep.

The live fish on the table was bubbling with steam, and the aroma of several stir-fried seasonal vegetables swarmed into my nose, almost destroying my will.

Shi Shu also pushed the menu over and said, "Look, what else do you need?"

In front of him, Su Tu was still a little embarrassed, and pursed his lips shyly: "No, I've already ordered a lot."

Shi Shu's hand was still on the menu. He looked up at the voice and said, "Are you feeling unwell?"

"hold head high…"

Su Tu was stunned for a moment, then he remembered that his voice was hoarse: "I have a slight cold."

Not only that, his face was a little pale, and there was a layer of dark blue under his eyes, which made the teardrop mole at the end of his eyes look lighter.

Shi Shu frowned slightly: "Did you go and see it?"

Su Tu explained: "It's not that serious, it's almost healed..."

As he spoke, he remembered that Zhao Xuan seemed to have mentioned that athletes should not take medicine casually if they are sick, so they should be especially careful about sources of infection.

She paused, quickly took out a mask from her bag, put it on, and moved to sit across from him and said, "Um..."

"How about you just tell me the problem and I'll listen and leave? Or you can send me a WeChat message later."

He ignored it: "What symptoms?"

Su Tu blinked, meaning that if the symptoms are mild, it will be fine?

I didn't dare to hide it, so after thinking for a moment, I said, "Just... my head is a little foggy, my nose is stuffy, and I have a little chill."

He asked, "No fever?"

Su Tu shook his head: "No."

Seeing that she didn't seem to be lying, Shi Shu withdrew his gaze and tacitly agreed that she could stay for a mild case like this. He reached out and scooped a bowl of fish soup and placed it on the seat opposite.

His voice was cold and hard: "Take off the mask and sit back."

Su Tu was still a little hesitant: "Although it's not serious, but just in case, how about I..."

"I'm on vacation."

Shi Shu interrupted and added as if to report: "It was like that before September."

Su Tu didn't understand: "Huh?"

Shi Shu: “It can be contagious.”

“…”

Although but.

Is this some kind of fun that you have to join in?

Su Tu wanted to say something, but when their eyes met, he was easily defeated. In the end, he took off his mask and sat back in his seat.

Under the pressure of his gaze, she consciously picked up the spoon and took a sip.

The fresh aroma of the crucian carp rolled into her throat, soothing her soft body, allowing her to regain some strength from within, and her eyes also brightened a little.

When I carefully raised my eyes and looked at him, I felt a kind of obedient softness for no reason, like "after eating, I secretly ask for praise." Seeing this, my heart softened and I couldn't help but want to reach out and stroke his fur: "Is it delicious?"

She nodded and said truthfully, "Yeah, it's very fresh."

He also generously rewarded: "You can come again next time."

“…”

Su Tu's cheeks were slightly moist. She always felt that every time she was alone with him, there was something weird that was hard to handle and hard to think deeply about.

I didn't know what to say, so I just continued drinking my soup.

It was not until the porcelain bowl was empty that I vaguely remembered that there seemed to be some important matters that had not been discussed.

Just as he looked up and was about to speak, a familiar voice came from behind a screen: "Mr. Wu, please come this way."

Su Tu was stunned for a moment and heard the sound of a seat moving.

Zhuo Xuefeng pulled open the main seat and ushered the guest into the main seat. He familiarly introduced how excellent this fish restaurant was and asked him to taste it well. Then he waved to the waiter to order two bottles of Feitian.

After a few drinks, as expected, they talked about Jinli's project in City C and Su Tu who was trying to participate in the bidding.

"...For a project of this magnitude, bidding is absolutely necessary. It's a competition of creativity, so whoever's better gets the job. We can't stop others from competing just because we've collaborated so often."

"But even if there's competition, shouldn't we choose large, market-proven companies to provide a better guarantee? I think names like Qichuan and Aman on the list make sense, but I don't quite understand why a small studio got involved at the end."

"Of course. I'm not questioning you. I just want to ask you if this was the 'instruction' of some leader."

"What kind of leader?"

Wu Wencai started drinking, not feeling that there was anything to be ashamed of. "Qiao Yue pushed her in, saying she was quite capable. After all, it's a bidding competition, so having one more person won't make a difference. There's no harm in listening."

Zhuo Xuefeng pretended to be alarmed: "Oh, it's not you."

"That's good, that's good."

Wu Wencai really heard the hidden meaning: "Why, is there something hidden?"

Zhuo Xuefeng hesitated and said, "Actually, there are some internal company matters that are not convenient to talk about. But I thought about it carefully. After all, you are the person in charge of this project. If something really goes wrong because of my concealment, who will bear the responsibility?"

Wu Wencai frowned: "What the hell is going on?"

Zhuo Xuefeng sighed, then made up his mind and said, "It's that small studio. The boss is Su Tu, you've met him before. He used to be my main case."

"Last year, because I leaked a confidential project plan, which directly caused the company to lose millions, I was expelled from the industry."

"How could she, at such a young age, dare to start her own business right after leaving? She must have been desperate and had no other options!"

"Tell me, if I hadn't told you about this, and she actually won the bid, then if anything went wrong with this multi-billion dollar project, wouldn't the responsibility ultimately fall on you?"

Wu Wencai had vaguely heard about this matter, but he never took it personally. Fortunately, he didn't take the small studio seriously.

Although it was obvious that he was excluding dissidents, this matter was closely related to him after all, so he didn't hesitate to do him a favor: "Don't worry, although this is a bidding process, I will have my own considerations on which company to choose in the end."

"Just put your mind at ease and think ahead about which designer to assign to this project."

The implication of internal appointment is obvious enough.

Upon hearing this, Zhuo Xuefeng responded repeatedly and stood up eagerly to pour the wine...

This was not the first time Su Tu had heard such discussions. Long before she left Guanyu, Zhuo Xuefeng had told her in person that if she dared to leave, he would make sure she could not survive in this circle.

She actually didn't care much, because the studio's positioning was different from Guanyu, and there had been no business conflicts in the past year. If it weren't for Qiao Yue's strong recommendation this time, she would not have thought of returning to this path.

But it was a bit tragic to show such embarrassment in front of his own clients.

No one wants to work with someone of questionable character.

Even if you sign a contract.

"Teacher Su."

As expected, Shi Shu called her, his voice flat and cold: "Are you preparing for the bidding recently?"

How magical.

The discussion stopped there.

Su Tu smiled bitterly: "Yeah."

I even had the mood to think about it, so I didn't bother asking him if there were any other details that needed to be discussed.

Shi Shu nodded, reached out to take the empty bowl of soup, and suddenly asked, "Do you know the phone number of the Municipal Supervision Bureau?"

Su Tu: “…”

He filled the soup to about eight-tenths full, placed it back in front of her neither too lightly nor too heavily, and, in a voice just loud enough for the other side to hear, he looked at her and said, "The bidding is over."

"I'll help you fight."

The author has something to say:

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PS: The Municipal Supervision Bureau can report bidding fraud.