Chapter 21
Cheng Shi wanted to suppress the matter of the promotional brochure and ignore it, treating it as if he had accidentally missed a few emails. After all, an internal complaint wasn't a big deal, and besides, Haosikai's company culture prioritized sales rather than these administrative issues.
But amidst the chaos, Cheng Shi suddenly had a flash of inspiration and came up with a great idea. Without hesitation, he immediately left his workstation and headed towards the front desk.
Candy was sitting behind the front desk, staring blankly at the computer screen, seemingly lost in thought. But when Candy heard Narumi's voice and looked up, Narumi saw the anticipation and joy in her eyes, and even a hint of accomplicity. He almost forgot why he had come in the first place.
“Candy,” Narumi still walked towards the front desk and leaned over the high counter, grinning as she said, “If you’re not too busy right now, could you help me find something in the supplies center? It’s this thing, it looks like this but the cover is gold.”
As she spoke, Narumi placed the black-and-white cover of the printed brochure on the front desk, her manner as if intimately revealing a secret to her lover. Candy, on the other hand, stood up, leaning forward onto the front desk, her chest almost pressing against the stack of A4 printed papers that Narumi was pointing to.
"Where is the materials center?" Candy asked Chengshi, frowning. "And... what is this?"
"This is a promotional brochure I made before the Lunar New Year, but it needs to be revised. So now I need to find all the promotional materials and product samples for this year's 'Rejuvenating' series. It's easy to find; all the 'Rejuvenating' series products this year have gold packaging, so you can spot them at a glance. You've never been to the materials center? Come on, I'll take you there. It's on B1. Bring your badge; you'll need to scan it to get in."
"Okay, Sir!"
In the corridor, as Narumi followed Candy's rolling back trail, a sense of near-victory began to rise in his chest. Soon, the two of them swiped their cards and entered the maze-like materials center on level B1. At this moment, besides the staff on duty at the front desk, they were the only two people in the maze. Immersed in the sweet, girlish scent of Candy's perfume—Narumi didn't find the scent as cheap as Huang Ruoyu had described—he felt his mind wandering. Meanwhile, Candy had already begun searching for the locations of the materials on the computer.
"You just said...rejuvenation or radiance?"
"Huanyan, this is it, it's marked as being over there."
Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, Chengshi observed Candy's face carefully for the first time. The girl had a round face and a flat nose; she was indeed not pretty. Chengshi felt that it didn't matter if he admitted that Candy wasn't pretty. After all, he didn't want to marry her, date her, or take her out to meet people, so whether she was pretty or not didn't matter to him.
Although he was straight, Chengshi could tell that Candy was young, but he guessed she was wearing heavy makeup to cover up her bad skin, like applying thick, dark eyeshadow to make her eyes look bigger. But the actual effect... was the opposite; her deliberate makeup made people immediately notice her bad skin and small eyes.
However, Cheng Shi felt that Candy's hair was probably her biggest and most noticeable flaw—she clearly had naturally thick, coarse hair that curled in small waves, resembling the fur of some small dog. Candy had probably straightened and dyed her hair before, so it looked relatively smooth at first glance, but a closer look revealed that it hadn't been styled in a while; the ends were yellow, dry, and frizzy, making her look rather plain.
Fortunately, Candy's lips were very beautiful, almost like a plump rose; her teeth were also well-shaped, straight and of moderate size. Cheng Shi found that if he focused his gaze on Candy's lips, then stepped back and showed her entire figure on the vertical screen of his phone, and then turned on some kind of beauty filter or slimming effect, he could convince himself that the girl in front of him was the most alluring woman in the world.
You see, Cheng Shi, a handsome and talented guy with excellent personal qualities and a prominent figure in school, actually has very high standards when it comes to women. Therefore, only a top-tier beauty like Huang Ruoyu could catch his eye; he has always looked down on ugly women. But at this moment, Cheng Shi felt a strange temptation. He himself couldn't explain what was wrong with him.
"Here it is!" Candy exclaimed excitedly. "All the 'Rejuvenating' materials you requested are here. Wow, how come there are so many products and promotional materials for this line?"
"Yes, these are the things. It might take you some time to find a sample of each product in this series, and also a copy of all the related promotional materials. Did you make plans for lunch today?"
"No, I didn't make plans with anyone today."
"That's good. I'll come down later to see how you're doing. I have to go upstairs now. Thank you so much for today, Candy."
"You're too kind."
Cheng Shi returned to his workstation and sat down, quite satisfied with his arrangement. He could have easily waited until everyone on this floor went to lunch before going back to the B1 materials center to find Candy.
Now there's only one problem left: how to explain to the group he was supposed to have lunch with. He not only needs a reason to skip lunch with them, but he also needs a reason to spend the whole afternoon with Candy without arousing suspicion.
“It’s time! It’s time!” A deep male voice appeared above Cheng Shi’s head, and then three heads appeared on his partition.
The man who spoke earlier was tall and unkempt, wearing a plaid shirt favored by programmers, with a baseball jersey over it. His name was Simon, the undisputed radical of the 15th floor. This guy was particularly passionate about politics, feeling uncomfortable if he didn't spout some reactionary remarks every day. Simon's actual job was the text editor for the Haosikai internal publication, "We WE." He originally belonged to Chengshi's team, but because he always tried to include reactionary language in "We WE," he became the direct and primary target of the cautious old teacher's surveillance.
"Hurry up! We'll have to wait in line for the elevator again soon!" Simon shouted to Cheng Shi.
At this moment, Jack shakily stood up from next door, then used some strength to steady himself. He then said to Chengshi, who was pretending to look at his phone, as if talking to himself, "What's wrong? Can't you leave?"
"I don't think I can leave today," Cheng Shi replied, taking the opportunity. "I have to do some fieldwork this afternoon. My boss told me to visit more media outlets recently to plan topics for the summer vacation. I just made an appointment with one. I'll just grab something to eat outside after I finish what I'm doing."
"How can this be allowed? Cheng Sir!" Jack yelled at Cheng Shi, his face showing an exaggerated expression of shock and disappointment. "How can you just eat whatever you want outside? Don't you know how important lunch is? People are made of iron, and food is as essential as steel... no, eat a good breakfast and a full lunch..."
Seeing Jack's slightly dramatic expression, Chengshi immediately understood that Jack needed him. If Chengshi could provide Jack with emotional support, he could persuade everyone to go to that noodle shop where they could get a small bottle of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) for lunch; but if Chengshi didn't go, then everyone would have to follow Simon's arrangement and go to that light-food restaurant—that restaurant didn't even offer a drop of alcohol because it wasn't healthy.
Jack hated that healthy light meal restaurant, so as he was led away by that group, he relentlessly made one last flirtatious glance at Cheng Sir, his expression seeming to say: Please, Cheng Sir! Don't let them treat me like this!
But Narumi refused to make eye contact with Jack, instead remaining firmly seated in his chair, furiously typing away on his computer like a six-fingered demon. He waited until the group had safely entered the elevator, then patiently continued typing. Ten minutes passed, then twenty, and Narumi still felt the 15th floor was too crowded. After a while, he finally half-lifted himself from his chair, like a human probe scanning the partition from all angles.
Then Chengshi put on his suit jacket, buttoned it up, grabbed his Badge, and strode towards the elevator.
“That’s about it, Candy,” Cheng Shi said, finding Candy diligently working in B1. “This is enough.”
"Oh? But there's still a lot I haven't had time to look for over there. Didn't you say you needed all the relevant information?"
"It's so late, let's go get something to eat first." Cheng Shi said considerately to Candy, "Take these things up to the 15th floor and put them on my workstation, then take your things and wait for you in the Lobby. Let's go get something to eat together. It's on me, we won't go to the cafeteria."
“Okay, Sir,” Candy replied obediently.
Seeing Candy get on the elevator, Chengshi climbed the stairs to the first floor and hurriedly went into the restroom to tidy himself up. However, when he came out of the restroom and waited in the lobby, Chengshi started to panic—the lobby was bustling with people, and many people who had finished lunch were starting to return. If Candy didn't hurry, they might run into Jack and the others, since a light meal without alcohol wouldn't take long.
Therefore, Cheng Shi couldn't help but feel annoyed. He didn't understand why Candy had taken so long to go up to the 15th floor and hadn't come down yet. Was she laughing and talking with the other girls in the secretarial team about having lunch with him, Cheng Sir, later?
As Cheng Shi was thinking, she saw Candy come down from the elevator. From a distance, she seemed to have changed her lipstick color, was wearing an extra trench coat, and had a colorful little scarf around her neck.
The Guomao area is famous for its numerous restaurants, and the Haosikai Building is surrounded by all kinds of restaurants. However, right now, every restaurant is probably packed with Haosikai employees, so Chengshi has to take Candy to a restaurant a little further away. But Chengshi, the clever little devil, had already called a ride-hailing service while anxiously waiting for Candy to get off the elevator.
At the entrance of the Haosikai Building, Chengshi awkwardly touched Candy's arm, as if he were touching her chest. He whispered, "There aren't any really good places to eat around here. Do you mind if we go somewhere a little further away?"
Just then, the taxi Narumi had called stopped in front of the main entrance of the Haoskai Building. He watched with amusement as Candy smiled, bent down, and gracefully got into the black Toyota. At the same time, Narumi, startled, glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw Simon, Jack, and several other colleagues walking towards them from the direction of the light meal restaurant. Narumi didn't know if they had seen him, but at that moment, he felt that nothing else mattered.
Chengshi followed Candy into the back seat of the Toyota. As he closed the door, he glanced at the group of people again and suddenly felt an urge to burst out laughing. It was ridiculous how Jack was walking with his Bruce Lee-colored slippers, his short legs twitching as he tried to keep up with those "giants" because of his short stature!
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