Competition
As Su finished tidying herself up, she still said to An Chi, "Regarding what happened yesterday, consider it a breach of contract on my part. You... I'll treat you to a meal?"
I wanted to say I'd grant him a request, but then I remembered how he stopped me when I brought it up last time with a "date," so this time I held back and just said I'd treat him to dinner.
An Chi could see her predicament all too well, but he just smiled and took a long sip of water for her sake, saying, "No need, I'm about to start school, and I'll be busy then, who knows who will invite whom."
Su breathed a sigh of relief, but only managed a casual remark, "School starts so early?"
“I’m a graduate student.” An Chi walked up to her and casually handed her her bag as she finished putting on her shoes.
Su jokingly replied, "Sorry, my education level is too low, I don't know."
Su Yao didn't continue her studies after graduating from university. Firstly, she originally planned to gain experience in the company. Secondly, she was preparing for her wedding with Bai Lutong when she graduated, so she didn't have much time to take the postgraduate entrance exam. Thirdly, she couldn't expose her talents too much and needed to keep Su Qingye and Su Wensheng from being on their guard.
An Chi did not respond to her words. He liked Su Yao when she was joking, because that made her more vibrant. However, he did not like Su Yao joking about herself.
All jokes are built on pain, and all comedies are based on sadness.
He didn't want it to be like this, because the way he mocked Su Yao for his pain wasn't because he disliked or was unwilling, but rather because it carried a tragic undertone of heartache.
He walked Su Yao out a bit, and Su Yao turned to him and said, "Go back. I've never seen you walk me like this before. It's not like we'll never see each other again after I start school." Su Yao thought he was still being coy because they wouldn't see each other much after starting school.
Unexpectedly, An Chi stopped and said to her, "I'll give you some extra help. With your abilities, you can easily pass the exam."
Su was amused by the worry in his eyes: "Are you upset about that joke? I joked with you before, why weren't you upset? I never intended to continue studying. Am I not doing well now? I have a car, a house, and a younger brother like you who's always there for me."
An Chi lowered her eyes, concealing her worry, and muttered softly, "And all sorts of flowers and plants..."
Su Yao gave a soft hum and ignored his sudden jealousy. She had already been considerate enough of his thoughts and hadn't even mentioned anyone else. She couldn't help but feel that he was creating a hypothetical enemy for her out of nowhere.
As they approached the car, An Chi asked her, "Are you taking me to school?"
Su looked at him with amusement. A graduate student who had lived abroad for so many years still needed her to take him to school. After thinking it over, she decided it wasn't a big deal. "Okay, let me know when the time comes and I'll check the schedule."
Afterwards, she got into the car that Ge Jin had come to pick her up. Ge Jin reported on the day's itinerary to her and then added, "Do you need to free up some space for the rest of the trip? We're going to Canada next month, and they're asking us to move up the schedule."
Su Yao's expression was not as good as usual when it came to work: "We, as the largest investor, cannot decide the project date? Then I don't mind canceling the cooperation."
“I’ll try to negotiate again. But I heard that another Canadian company is vying for it, and I’m worried there might be problems there. I’ve already invested some money, and if something goes wrong, it could result in losses.”
How much is the penalty for breach of contract?
"They will probably apply for a delay in the project, and the penalty for breach of contract cannot be the price originally agreed upon."
“Ge Jin.” She was actually a little angry. In Su Yao’s eyes, this was Ge Jin’s mistake. They were an investment company, and they could make such a mistake and deal with such an unexpected situation. Moreover, this was their biggest investment cooperation in recent times.
"I will try my best to negotiate."
"Fine, if it's earlier, then it's earlier. Just let me know once you've confirmed the time. And remember to keep in touch with Wenxie, his schedule is unpredictable." Su Yao glanced at the stock price chart on his phone, then his eyes suddenly caught sight of the word "Yao".
She then instructed, "Have Tang Pai investigate this 'Yao'."
After considering Ge Jin's condition and workload, Su decided to assign Tang Pai to do the task.
Ge Jin fell silent, lost in thought, and for a moment forgot to respond to Su Yao. Su Yao looked at him and asked, "Have you been very tired lately?"
"No."
"Take a rest. You didn't respond to what I just said."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Su, I will tell Assistant Tang."
Su looked at him, slowly parted her lips, but then closed them again, as if embarrassed by unspoken words. However, when they were almost at the company, she finally spoke up: "Ge Jin, I don't want our relationship problems to affect your work. If it really is my fault, then I might help you find a better place to go, instead of you staying here and having your talents stifled."
Ge Jin pursed his lips and steadily parked the car in the parking space.
His fingertips were white from gripping the steering wheel so tightly, but his face was unusually red, the kind of flush one gets when holding one's breath. He felt his earlobes burning, and he spoke with a trembling voice, revealing his clear-headedness: "President Su, or rather, Su Yao, I thought our relationship over the years was an inseparable entanglement. But now I realize that our relationship is like that of a banana tree and a monkey. You are the tree, unmoved by anything. Even though I have expressed my feelings to you, you can still blossom and bear fruit as usual. And I, the monkey, am always climbing the tree. Once I leave you, or if you stop bearing fruit one day, I will die without any resources."
Ge Jin's voice trembled at first, but it became more and more firm later on.
“I’ve been thinking lately, maybe I should quit being this monkey. With my tree-climbing ability, I could be any assistant. I could find other banana trees, or even a wildlife park that could support me. What do you think? But I’ve found that I can’t. A person’s habits are terrifying. You can cultivate a second Ge Jin, but I can’t find a second Su Yao. I can’t find a banana tree with the same pattern.”
In the form of a self-questioning and self-answering, Su didn't follow up with a single sentence.
She felt neither embarrassed nor angry; on the contrary, she admired him even more because she realized that Ge Jin was thinking about what he needed, rather than blindly following her.
"Su Yao, no matter who you end up with, you won't fire me because of this rivalry, right? And I won't let this affect my work either. Trust me, okay?"
Su finally met his gaze. His sincere eyes and unwavering promise were just like when he first came to her side. She smiled and said, "I believe I can do it too." She replied, "As long as you are willing to work hard by my side, you will always be there for me. Thank you, Ge Jin."
Ge Jin avoided her leaning embrace, got out of the car himself, and opened the car door for Su Yao. They continued to enter and exit the building together as usual.
Upon entering, Su Yao was greeted by Bai Lutong, who had been waiting in the lobby. He approached her and said, "I heard from the receptionist that you haven't started work yet, so I've been waiting for you downstairs."
"Mr. Bai, what brings you here?" Su Yao glanced at him indifferently, not stopping for him, but walking straight into the elevator, treating him like a subordinate who was reporting to him.
Bai Lutong followed, grinning, and said to her, "Let me talk about how to cooperate with that guy surnamed Liu."
Su Yao heard this and simply called Ge Jin's name softly. Ge Jin, who was silently following behind, stepped between them and said respectfully to Bai Lutong, "President Bai, you can tell me about this."
Bai Lutong was dumbfounded. He thought this kind of thing would bring him and Su Yao together, but he was interrupted again. He understood that even though Su Yao had made it very clear last time, he was still unwilling. He did not believe that there was anyone better than him among Su Yao's choices. He was confident, even arrogant.
This conviction didn't form overnight. From the moment Bai Lutong left the country, he arrogantly believed that he was important to the Su family and even Su Yao, just as Su Yao had described. It was probably a subconscious habit. Even though Su Yao had made it so clear to him, he remained just as determined. In fact, this "need" ignited a strange confidence within him.
"Su Yao, I think it's better for the two of us to talk about this in person."
Su watched the elevator numbers jump up and down, and heard a noise she had never experienced on her usual commute.
Ge Jin and Tang Pai were both adept at using the gaps in time. They would usually tell Su Yao about the day's precautions and itinerary while in the car or walking. They would only talk to Su Yao about some details that they couldn't quite get to the bottom of. Usually, Su Yao would think about something on her own during the elevator ride, but today she couldn't. She was just thinking about whether it would have been quieter if she had kept Bai Lutong out of the door downstairs. Given Ge Jin's current status, he really couldn't do anything to drive Bai Lutong away.
She thought that her words last time would make Bai Lutong realize that he wasn't that important to her, or even just a "tool" she could throw away and use at any time. But out of all the men, only he was so clueless.
At least An Chi has the awareness to act like a pet, Ge Jin has the ability to distinguish between public and private matters, and the other suitors also have the discernment to consider the interests of their families.
Bai Lutong, however, still acted like a spoiled young master, believing that it was still the era of Su Qingye and Su Wensheng, and that he had to be manipulated by them to form a marriage alliance with the Bai family. He thought that the Su family was in his hands, and that he had to get entangled in a complicated love-hate relationship with them...
Anyone who didn't know better would think this young master was filming an idol drama.
Perhaps it was because I was too easy to pursue in college that this "foolish" young master thought I was still the same now.
She always felt that there was another person with the same spoiled young master behavior as him, and that person was Pei Zhixi.
Since that's the case, she'll use magic to defeat magic and see who has the stronger temperament between these two young masters. Just thinking about it is interesting, but if the two of them knew, they would probably be furious.
So she acted immediately. She first told Bai Lutong that she had handed the matter over to Pei Zhixi and didn't need him anymore, but she forgot to tell him.
Sure enough, the eldest young master got a little carried away when he heard this and wanted to submit a proposal to Su to show her that he had done a good job.
Unexpectedly, Su looked around as she walked, and when she was almost at the office, she pouted, sighed, and said to him, "Keep trying, and give it another shot."
After leaving Bai Lutong waiting outside, Ge Jin awkwardly asked, "Wouldn't this be inappropriate?"
“What’s wrong with that? Go tell Pei Zhixi that I’ve been bullied and that I need him to contribute a terrible solution. Also, Bai Lutong came to me about this, so he has to come up with something better than what Bai Lutong has to offer. Give him a good slap in the face!” A gloating expression was evident on her face.
Ge Jin shook his head, but did not object to her. He simply reminded her, "What about General Manager Liu?"
"I'll go to Singapore to check on that project. If there's really a problem, then we'll have a scapegoat." She was always so cunning, like a sly fox, always pretending to eat grass, making people think it was a herbivore. But in reality, it was patiently waiting for its prey to come to it, then catching them all in one fell swoop. It didn't even have a heart. Even Pei Zhixi was tricked, simply because he shared the same spoiled brat temperament as Bai Lutong. So even this cunning fox made him stumble. She said it was just to let them know that women don't fall for that kind of thing, and that he should curb his "confidence."
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