Chapter 44: Familiar at the last second.
At the last second.
Ms. Xia Yiqing's brain was still saying "wait a minute", but her hand was one step ahead and "accidentally touched" it openly, "what are you afraid of?"
Xia Yiqing's eyes, which were originally closed, slowly opened under the stimulation of adrenaline.
Yes, what are you afraid of? There is no privacy in the office, so what? Others can come in anytime and anywhere, so what?
It's break time now and everyone is playing with their phones. What's wrong with her calling... her marriage partner or her current boyfriend?
Anyway, as long as she has no shame, there is nothing to be afraid of.
As it happens, face is not given by others. If she takes the position of chairman, even if she does something shameless, everyone will choose to be blind.
Thinking of this, Xia Yiqing raised her cell phone confidently and rested her elbows on the desk.
While looking into the built-in camera, she said to the outside, "Okay, I'll go eat later. Please close the door. I have something else to do."
Xiao An's "Okay, boss" happened to follow Qi Hanmu's "What's the matter?"
The connection was perfect, and Xia Yiqing could hear every one of them clearly.
The man's voice was clear, yet slightly hoarse, like the moonlight pouring down, and the beautiful cello solo blooming in the depths of the garden.
"Hmm..." Is it okay to call you?
After holding it in for a long time, Xia Yiqing had no choice but to tell the truth in a more tactful way, "I'm talking to my boyfriend on the phone, so I have to get the others out of the way."
"Okay," Xia Yiqing just breathed a sigh of relief when a voice echoed from the other side of the silence.
"Did you change offices?"
"Why are you bringing this up all of a sudden?"
“The context in which your voice is placed sounds different.”
"Oh," Xia Yiqing was a little bit at a loss in the face of such concern, and subconsciously wanted to be vague.
"Yeah, I changed to a smaller one."
"The video is pointed at your face."
Qi Hanmu's voice on the other side sounded a little cold. Xia Yiqing shuddered, and when she reacted, her own face appeared on the screen in front of her.
Perhaps frightened, Xia Yiqing turned her head and sneezed twice, "Ah, ah..."
After a long while, the girl's face slowly turned red again with a blush.
"Caught a cold?" The man frowned.
Even when photographed from below, an angle that would make other people look ugly, Qi Hanmu's face was still incredibly handsome.
A jawline as sharp as a knife, a nose bridge so high that it almost forms a straight line, and eyebrows and eyes with just the right depth.
These few things, no matter which one is picked out, are very imaginative.
What's more, they combine well on Qi Hanmu's face, forming a multiplication effect, raising the handsomeness of that face to more than ten times that of the original scattered facial features.
"No," Xia Yiqing heard her voice was a little hoarse, feeling guilty, she casually picked up the water beside her.
"The little girl said it would be a waste if we didn't turn on the air conditioner. Everyone else is turning it on, so we have to turn it on too. I only got a little bit of the air blown by it in this season, but it's okay."
There was no emotion in Qi Hanmu's eyes, only his dark pupils moved slightly.
"The assistant who once asked you to rescue her in the middle of the night?"
"Yes, it's amazing that you still remember it, Third Master."
"Xiao An?"
Xia Yiqing was surprised, "You have such a clear impression of it?"
"You have a very good relationship..."
Qi Hanmu's voice was drowned out by the sound of the door opening. The door was not strong to begin with, and it was not locked, so it could be opened by a gust of wind.
Xiao An's voice was so passionate that it completely drowned out Qi Hanmu's deep voice. "Boss, come and have dinner. There are not many people in the cafeteria now, so you don't need to queue."
Qi Hanmu lowered his eyebrows and took the initiative to create an atmosphere to hang up. "You go eat first. I'm hanging up."
"Oh, and don't forget lunch either."
As soon as Xia Yiqing finished speaking, Xiao An rushed over to her, "Boss, there are still big chicken legs. Everyone is scrambling for them. A new plate is here, and it's piping hot. I'll watch you serve it!"
"Hmm," Xia Yiqing felt a little uneasy for some reason. She stood up and followed Xiao An out.
"Remember to knock next time."
"Oh ok, I was too impatient this time, boss, please don't blame me, please."
Looking at the girl's tender face, Xia Yiqing pursed her lips, not wanting to say much, and just nodded.
Seeing that Xia Yiqing's brows were still furrowed, Xiao An pretended to put his arm around Xia Yiqing's shoulders and said, "Boss, please forgive me. I really didn't mean it."
That tone sounded really aggrieved.
Xia Yiqing felt a little reluctant, but also vaguely strange, feeling that Xiao An was a little different.
After all, the person who can be remembered by Qi Hanmu is indeed not an ordinary person.
Could it be, Xia Yiqing frowned, that Qi Hanmu was secretly having an affair with Xiao An?
As soon as this idea came out, Xia Yiqing couldn't help but curl the corners of her mouth.
How is that possible? Qi Hanmu is always surrounded by people, but there are few women.
Among the first and second generation circles, Qi Hanmu is well-known for his indifference.
Everyone used to joke that the Third Master was probably no different from a "Buddhist son", except that he had not been ordained and did not believe in Buddhism very much.
His arm was still being gently shaken, and Xiao An's voice continued to come over, "Boss, I was really wrong. Just treat me like a fart."
"Okay," Xia Yiqing stood still, "Then you should be more careful next time."
The lunch was pretty good. Xia Yiqing was forced to eat a big chicken drumstick. She sat at the table, listening to Xiao An's endless gossip.
She picked and chose the food on the plate with her chopsticks. She had no appetite for some reason and her stomach was feeling uncomfortable.
We arrived too late, and many dishes were cold. Moreover, the food was not much different from the school cafeteria. Many of them were heavy in flavor, and few of them were delicious.
Seeing the shrimps in their shells, Xia Yiqing's eyes dropped.
It was as if the pair of big hands with distinct joints appeared before her eyes again, wearing a famous watch worth hundreds of millions, with sleeves rolled up, and using slender and powerful fingers to peel shrimp for her.
"No need to go through so much trouble," Xia Yiqing shifted uneasily while sitting opposite Qi Hanmu.
"Just let Auntie cook the shrimps. No need to bother peeling them one by one."
"Are you sure you would eat cooked shrimp?"
Qi Hanmu sat opposite her with a cold expression, and his words seemed to be filled with ice and lacked warmth.
A large shrimp landed in the bowl in front of her. "You have to eat it, and you have to swallow it if you don't want to. You're so delicate."
Xia Yiqing poked the air twice with her chopsticks, but tears rolled down from the corners of her eyes as if she was incontinent.
She didn't know if it was because someone was peeling shrimp for her, or if it was because the man's coercive words scared her.
Maybe both.
Mr. and Mrs. Xia have high expectations for their children, especially when it comes to not being picky about food.
"You should eat what's given to you. Why are you so picky? You don't eat this or that. Are you happy with wasting food?"
Every time, little Xia Yiqing could only lower her head and eat in silence. Under the heavy gaze of her parents, she slowly swallowed the dishes they brought her.
At this time, they will say, "Isn't this right? What's wrong with eating it?"
But the seafood they cook is too "delicious" -
People who can’t stand it will classify this deliciousness as “fishy”.
So not surprisingly, Xia Yiqing almost couldn't control herself and ran to the sink and vomited everything.
Every time this happened, if Xia's mother hadn't persuaded her, Xia's father would have hit little Xia Yiqing with his belt.
"Eat," perhaps seeing her crying, the man sitting next to her in Yi Garden suddenly softened his tone.
“Eat as much as you can.”
She left half a bowl of rice nervously and looked at Qi Hanmu cautiously.
"Have you finished eating? Go for a walk after you finish eating. Don't stay in your room all day long."
She rarely had the experience of digesting food alone after a meal, because without Qi Hanmu's supervision, Xia Yiqing would not take a single step.
When Qi Hanmu was around, the man would always lag two steps behind her and follow her closely.
The two people did not hold hands, but the breeze blew past, and their hearts were warm. They looked at each other inadvertently, and through the fragrance of flowers, they could smell a hint of heartbeat.
At that time, Xia Yiqing had experienced love as a young girl.
She also narcissistically thought that Qi Hanmu treated her differently.
Unfortunately, no matter how many or how strong the emotions were, they all seemed to disappear after Qi Hanmu said, "I never gave you a name."
"Boss," Xiao An's voice came over with a hint of complaint, "Why are you eating so little? What are you going to do if you don't have the energy for the meeting this afternoon?"
She really couldn't eat any more, and no one was peeling the only shrimp she wanted to eat. Xia Yiqing shook her head, indicating that she didn't want to eat it anymore.
At this moment, a figure walked out from the darkness.
He was wearing a black windbreaker and a medical mask that covered most of his face. He was tall and looked muscular.
Amid Xiao An's faint exclamation, the man walked straight over to the direction of Xia Yiqing and the others' table.
Her heart was pounding as Xia Yiqing stared at the man without blinking.
She always felt that he looked familiar.
The tall and elegant figure stopped beside Xia Yiqing, leaned over, and began to peel the shrimps one by one with his slender and beautiful fingers still dripping with water.
Xia Yiqing was very familiar with the way he handled the shrimp heads, tails and shrimp threads.
Because she had seen it at least a thousand times.
Thinking of the ever-changing background behind the man during the video call, Xia Yiqing's pupils shrank.
She pulled the man's shirt and asked, "You, came from the east side of the city?"
It’s no wonder Xia Yiqing was shocked, the distance between the two sides was not close.
The man didn't answer, his deep eyebrows drooped. In the process of peeling the shrimp shells and processing them, his slender knuckles, which were originally white jade-like fingertips, were stained with the red juice from the dipping sauce on the outside of the shrimp shells.
It looks a little...unmatched.
Men are the focus there.
He has broad shoulders and long arms, and his head-to-body ratio is almost perfect. His black clothes may look inconspicuous, but they are actually high-end custom-made ones. You can tell from a close look at the fabric that they are absolutely flawless.
This person, whose mere back view can make people fantasize, happens to be wearing a mask.
People can't help but pay attention to him and secretly wonder in their hearts whether he is a potential handsome guy or a "scam".
Of course, there are people with both ideas, and the latter one even constitutes the majority.
After all, apart from Xia Lie, the recently appointed president and nephew of the chairman, there is no other man in the Xia Group who is as dashing as him.
However, although Xia Lie is good-looking, compared with the man in the windbreaker in front of him, he lacks the calm and composed demeanor.
"You, who are you? Why are you approaching our boss? Our boss is Mr. Qi Sanye's woman. You, don't have any other bad intentions!"
Xiao An took a step back, stood up with a "bang", covered his mouth and nose with his hands, and raised his eyebrows.
Across from her, Xia Yiqing's eyes darkened. "Xiao An," she said, not even noticing that there was a hint of protectiveness in her voice. "Go downstairs and buy a cup of coffee."
"Ah?" Xiao An raised his eyebrows again, perhaps because he didn't hear clearly or what, but his voice was quite loud.
"Boss, this man's behavior is strange. If you stay here alone, I'm afraid something might happen..."
"What if?"
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