Tears
"Lanlan, you're avoiding me again."
At the corner, Chen Peiyuan held you in his arms, leaned his head on your shoulder, and said softly, like a resentful husband blaming his wife for not coming home.
The thought sent chills down your spine. The man's head was buried in your shoulder, his breath seeping down and repeatedly spraying hot air onto your skin, making it feel wet and sticky. You tried to break free, but Chen Peiyuan held you even tighter. More and more people gathered around you, and in a daze, you saw that everyone seemed to be whispering about you two. Your head spun more and more. You tried to remember, but you didn't understand why things had turned out this way.
Let's go back to one day ago.
Secretary Liu rushed into the president's office with a document in his hand. A gust of wind blew up some papers on the table, and the employee sitting down quickly pressed them down to prevent them from falling. He was puzzled because there was no strong wind blowing into the office. He looked up and saw Secretary Liu rushing into the president's office. The employee was very surprised. Secretary Liu was usually calm and rarely acted so agitated. What was the matter that was so urgent?
"Of course it's a very urgent matter," Secretary Liu said, handing you the things in her hand. She looked strange and was covered in sweat.
"Mr. Chen, something terrible has happened! Look at this."
"What's wrong? What's this?" You looked at Secretary Liu's face covered in sweat, took the thing from her hand, and wondered where she had come from. She was so anxious that she didn't even have time to wipe her sweat, and her face looked very pale.
Secretary Liu pursed her lips and remained silent, her hands clasped together, her eyes fixed on the folder you were holding.
You slowly opened the thing in your hand, and just one glance made your face change drastically. You then threw it on the table. Secretary Liu was so frightened that he stood there speechless.
The office was eerily quiet; even the air seemed to have stopped circulating. It was suffocating. After a long while, Secretary Liu slightly moved her numb lower body and heard President Chen's calm voice asking her a question.
"What about the surveillance footage? Have you checked it?"
Hearing this, she felt a chill run down her spine and quickly said, "I checked. That person stayed in the lobby the whole time and didn't go to the kitchen. I've also checked the kitchen's security footage. Everything was done according to normal procedures. Moreover, only he and his companions complained about the food that day. I checked other tables that ordered the same dishes, and none of them reported similar issues. The situation is very serious now. Someone filmed a video and posted it online, and the buzz is gradually increasing. I'm scared."
"But these two people collapsed at the scene, their faces were blackened, and they kept insisting that it was because they ate our food that they were affected. It's hard for us not to take the blame." You looked at the folder spread out on the table with a gloomy face.
Secretary Liu lowered her eyes, unable to refute, because it was precisely because she knew this that she rushed over to report to General Manager Chen.
"How is he now?"
"The two have been taken to the hospital and are undergoing examinations. The results are not yet available, and we do not know their condition at this time."
You nodded, then seemed to remember something and asked her, "Did you keep samples of the food they ate?" After Secretary Liu nodded, you gave the order, "Send them to the lab for testing, along with samples from other tables, for comparison."
Secretary Liu agreed, but for some reason didn't leave and lingered in the same spot.
"Anything else to say?" You looked up at her, sensing that she seemed to have something to say.
Secretary Liu nodded, a hint of embarrassment on her face. "President Chen, this time it was my fault, I wasn't paying attention..."
Before I could finish speaking, you raised your hand to stop me. Your eyes were gentle, your lips curved into a smile, and your voice was soft. “Secretary Liu, there’s no need to apologize. You’ll face similar problems many times in the future. Do you have to apologize to me every time? I prefer to see your confidence in identifying and solving problems rather than your apologies.”
When Secretary Liu heard what you said, she bit her lip, her eyes filled with tears, and nodded vigorously, looking very moved.
You waved with a smile, "Go ahead, Secretary Liu. Time is money now. The time you spend crying means I'll lose hundreds of thousands of yuan in earnings. The money I lose won't be enough to cover your salary deductions."
Secretary Liu laughed at this remark, then quickly said, "I won't give you capitalists the chance to deduct money," before running out the door, afraid you'd say something else.
You watch her leave with amusement, then your gaze shifts downwards and falls on the document. Your expression immediately darkens. You know perfectly well that you've been tricked, framed using such despicable means. But luckily, this cunning fox couldn't resist and came to your door with evidence.
You sneer, so what if he's in the shadows? If you expose him openly, you'll only infuriate him more.
Thinking about it this way, your mood inexplicably brightened up a bit.
Your phone vibrates. You glance at it; it's Chen Peiyuan calling. You hesitate, wondering whether to answer.
Since that awkward meeting, you haven't stayed at that house. Instead, you rented a room nearby, just a few minutes away from the company, and stayed there for several days in a row.
For some reason, you just don't want to go home, back to the home where Chen Peiyuan is. Your gaze is fixed on the calendar not far away, and you always feel that if you go back to that home, something you can't control will happen. This feeling of being out of control makes you repeatedly avoid meeting Chen Peiyuan. It's not that Chen Peiyuan hasn't come to see you these past few days, but you deliberately had Secretary Liu turn him down.
When you come to your senses again, the call has automatically disconnected. You turn off the screen and put it aside. As soon as the call ends, you feel as if a piece of your heart has been emptied.
Forget it, there's no point in thinking about it. You'll just turn around and bury yourself in work again.
At 10 a.m. this morning, Secretary Liu pushed open the door and walked in.
You lifted your eyelids, glanced at her, then lowered them again. "So, is there any result?"
Secretary Liu rushed up to you with a beaming smile and said, "I've got it, Mr. Chen! We made quick progress following your instructions last time. The people at the lab said there's nothing wrong with the samples, it's not a problem with the food. Our kitchen's dishes also meet the standards. When those two saw that we called the police, they finally confessed under police questioning. It turns out they were food vloggers who weren't very popular. They heard that our shop was a popular online store, so they wrote a script to gain traffic by exposing the fake practices of popular online stores. They brought a worm and secretly threw it in when our employees weren't looking, claiming that they found a worm in their food, which they said showed that the hygiene of popular online stores was poor."
You chuckled, leaned back, and asked again, "What happened next?"
“We demanded that the two people compensate us for all damages to our reputation and reputation that day. We also recorded an apology video and posted it online. We also gave free meals to other customers who were frightened. Fortunately, the losses have not yet had a significant impact, and the customers have all expressed their understanding.”
You nod in satisfaction and praise her, "Well done, Secretary Liu. I told you I like your problem-solving attitude the most. You're quick and confident. You see, this loss was averted from becoming a disaster because you handled it properly."
"President Chen, I didn't mean it. It's all thanks to your excellent teaching." Secretary Liu was embarrassed by the praise and looked around.
You chuckled to yourself, "Is there anything else? If not, you can go and do your own thing."
Secretary Liu shook his head, and just as he was about to leave, he seemed to remember something, stood at a distance, and turned to look at you.
You raise an eyebrow at her, as if asking if there's anything else she hasn't said.
"By the way, Mr. Chen, that Mr. Chen upstairs has been coming very frequently these past few days, and you haven't been able to see him. I can't stop him anymore." Secretary Liu looked troubled and pointed to the ceiling. Every time she tried to stop him, Mr. Chen's face would turn so dark that he looked like he could eat her alive. If looks could kill, she would probably have been torn to pieces long ago. Just thinking about it now makes her shudder.
That Mr. Chen is indeed no ordinary person.
You paused for a moment, then understood what she meant and sighed softly, "Alright, next time he comes, you... you don't need to stop him."
Upon hearing your words, Secretary Liu immediately agreed, fearing you might change your mind, and then slipped away.
You can't help but laugh when you see her cowardly appearance. You only stop laughing when you wipe away the tears from the corners of your eyes, and you even have tears in your eyes from laughing.
You take out your phone and see that there are no calls from Chen Peiyuan today. That's strange.
But then you think about it again, and it's normal not to call. Everyone's so busy, who has time to make a phone call?
You shrug and get back to work.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, you finally got up from your desk, finished your work, and let out a happy sigh.
I stood up, twisted my waist and loosened my bones, and immediately felt light and refreshed.
You go out to use the restroom, but the urge to urinate comes too late and forces you to leave.
Along the way, you encountered many employees, and could only nod with a straight face as you walked quickly. When you reached a fork in the road, you saw a familiar figure. You instinctively dodged back, almost bumping into someone. You quickly apologized, and when the person shook their head and said it was okay and continued walking, you leaned against the wall and looked out. But you didn't see anyone. You wondered if you had been working for too long and your eyesight had deteriorated, and that you had actually seen Chen Peiyuan here at this time.
The urge to urinate became increasingly intense, and without thinking, you gritted your teeth and rushed to the toilet.
A minute later, you stand in front of the mirror washing your hands, looking relaxed. After glancing at yourself in the mirror and finding nothing wrong, you toss away the tissue you just used to dry your hands.
Just as you reach the corner, a pair of large hands suddenly appear, pulling you aside. Before you can even cry out, you are tightly embraced.
You were pressed against the wall, the hard wall scraping painfully against your back. You groaned, and then someone held you tightly in their arms. You looked up with difficulty and saw that it was Chen Peiyuan.
The man you just saw at the fork in the road was him!
"Lanlan, you're avoiding me again."
The man stared at you with red eyes, tears quickly welling up in his eyes and falling one after another like a string of pearls as you looked on in surprise.
No! No, how can this person's tears just fall like that?
You tried to break free from him, grabbing his arm and pulling hard. The man sensed your intention and held you even tighter, burying his face in your shoulder and saying, with a hurt expression,
"Lanlan, don't push me away. I'm so sad. I haven't seen Lanlan for three days, and I can't sleep."
When you heard him say that, you froze, and your hand unconsciously stopped moving. He sensed this and tightened his grip even more.
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