Chapter 5 I'll compensate you for him, you're just my roommate.
Li Baidong, dressed in a coffee shop employee uniform and holding an empty cup of coffee, said innocently, "I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean to."
Deng Hao glared at him, pointing his finger at his nose, trembling with anger: "This road is so wide, yet you insisted on squeezing past me, and you dare say it wasn't on purpose?"
In just one morning, Li Baidong successfully won the hearts of many women in the business circle with his handsome looks and sweet talk.
Seeing the commotion, many of the female employees who had been chatting happily with him earlier came over to speak up for him.
"Never mind, he's a new guy, it's normal for him to make a few mistakes."
"Yes, yes, I used to work part-time as a waiter. These kinds of cups are just so easy to spill. If you want to blame someone, blame the cup's designer."
Deng Hao persisted, "You've only just arrived and you're already making mistakes? This coffee wasn't even spilled on you! It's so hot, it burned my skin!"
A young girl whispered, "It's okay, you have thick skin, you can withstand the heat..."
Deng Hao: "…………"
"Whether I'm thick-skinned or not, you still have to pay for this shirt!" Deng Hao stepped forward and angrily grabbed the male waiter's collar. "This shirt of mine is very expensive. You're just a lowly waiter, can you afford to pay for it?"
Although Deng Hao was a bit petty, his request wasn't unreasonable.
After all, it was Li Baidong who dirtied the guest's clothes, so no matter what excuse he had, he still had to pay compensation.
Li Baidong lowered his eyes and caught a glimpse of the exquisite logo woven from silver threads on Deng Hao's collar.
It's definitely a big brand; it's probably worth half a month's salary for him.
He didn't care, but he felt sorry for the fox, who would have to eat several fewer cans of food this month.
Li Baidong sighed with some regret, raised his face, and was about to say "okay" when he heard a cold and clear voice from not far away.
"I'll pay for it on his behalf."
Xing Lan walked over from the door and transferred the shirt money to Deng Hao at the official price, without cutting back on the cost. Then she glanced at Li Baidong indifferently.
Li Baidong blinked his bright, puppy-dog eyes, and was about to utter an incredibly affectionate "Brother" when Xing Lan interrupted him first.
"One Blue Heart drink and one lemonade, to go, please."
His tone was devoid of any extra emotion, as if he had just happened to be passing by and casually spent 1,760 yuan to help a new waiter who was being harassed.
Li Baidong could tell that he didn't want others to know about their roommate relationship, so he could only silently touch his nose and say as naturally as possible, "Okay, just a moment."
The crowd of onlookers gradually dispersed, and Deng Hao, having collected the money, also left, grumbling and cursing. For a moment, only the two of them remained by the cashier.
Li Baidong lowered his head and carefully packed the small cake for Xing Lan. In the soft, soothing background music of the coffee shop, he said softly, "Brother, thank you. I will pay you back later."
"No need, but..."
Xing Lan looked at Li Baidong opposite her. The young man had long, slender fingers with prominent veins, which made him look agile and powerful, reminiscent of a young and strong wild leopard in the jungle.
Although the packaging process was a bit clumsy, every step was taken with extra care, and no mistakes were made.
He narrowed his eyes slightly and asked the question he had wanted to ask for a long time: "How did you end up here?"
Li Baidong said "Oh," tilted his head, and obediently replied, "Foxes have sensitive stomachs, so I recently switched it to imported food. The expenses are much higher than before, and the living expenses from home are not enough."
"This is a part-time job I found a few days ago. What a coincidence, it's right downstairs from my company."
After packing up the small cakes, Li Baidong turned his back to make lemonade for Xing Lan.
Li Baidong was new to the place and hadn't yet mastered many of the drinks, so his skill level was questionable. Luckily, Xing Lan ordered the simplest lemonade, which only required slicing fresh lemons and pouring them into sparkling water.
Just as he was about to turn around to get lemons from the freezer, Xing Lan calmly asked, "Did you hear Deng Hao just say something about me?"
Li Baidong's hand, which was suspended in mid-air, paused slightly. After a moment, he casually raised an eyebrow: "Who is Deng Hao?"
"The one who grabbed your collar just now."
Li Baidong thought about it carefully for a moment and shook his head: "The music was too loud, I didn't hear him say anything."
Xing Lan asked, "Then why did you throw his coffee?"
Li Baidong chuckled softly and replied fluently, "Brother, it really was an accident. It was my first day at work, and I was really nervous."
"And the floor here was just mopped this morning, it's so slippery, I didn't fall only because my shoes are good quality."
He put the cake and lemonade into a bag and handed it to Xing Lan. Xing Lan took the bag with one hand and took out her phone from her pocket with the other. Just as she was about to scan the code to pay, Li Baidong reached out and stopped her.
"Brother, this one's on me. I have an employee discount, it's cheaper than you buying it."
Xing Lan frowned, ruthlessly slapped his hand away, and coldly reprimanded him while scanning the code: "You're new to the job, don't treat people to meals randomly, or you'll get fired."
The small cake cost 28 yuan, and the lemonade cost 8 yuan. Xing Lan paid 36 yuan and left.
Just before leaving, I felt someone gently tugging at the hem of my clothes.
Turning his head, he saw Li Baidong staring at him intently, his gaze intense and filled with anticipation.
"Brother, are you working overtime tonight?"
"It depends. What's wrong?"
Li Baidong smiled and said, "Is there anything you'd like to eat? I'll cook it for you tonight."
"I learned a new dish online: chestnut and chicken soup. It's especially good for your stomach this season. Would you like to try it?"
Xing Lan glanced down at Li Baidong's hand tugging at her clothes, her tone distant.
"No need, you're just my roommate, not a nanny I hired."
After he finished speaking, he turned around and left.
Li Baidong stared at his slender and tall figure, gradually lost in thought, until several customers behind him called out to him several times before he came to his senses.
-
Li Baidong still cooked a large table of dishes for dinner, but he waited until almost nine o'clock, and Xing Lan still hadn't come home.
Xing Lan personally visited the CEO of Shiweijia in the afternoon, but as Deng Hao said, since the CEO had already decided to terminate the contract, he was unlikely to be willing to see him.
The other older employees with some influence also treated him coldly. After learning that he worked for the advertising company, they would avoid him whenever they passed by.
He waited at the company's front desk all afternoon, but didn't see a single person from Mr. Chen.
The receptionist told Xing Lan several hours ago that Boss Chen was in a meeting, but it seems that Boss Chen is not in the company at all.
Around six o'clock, he saw someone.
"Xing Lan?"
The man approaching was wearing a pair of thin, black-rimmed glasses made of plastic, and his dark blue plaid shirt was buttoned up tightly to the top.
The man's name was Yan Jie, a software development engineer responsible for the development and operation of the Shiweijia online software. Xing Lan had met him a few times before when they worked together, so they were practically acquaintances.
Xing Lan sat properly on the leather sofa on the first floor of the lobby, where he was responsible for greeting guests, his slender back straight.
A plate of fresh fruit on the coffee table in front of me hadn't been touched for hours, and the fruit peels were already a bit wilted.
Seeing Yan Jie approaching, he stood up.
Although he had been waiting so long that the leaves were almost sprouting, there was no sign of fatigue on his face. His neat white shirt was impeccably clean, and he gave the person in front of him a polite smile.
Yan Jie sized up Xing Lan for a moment before saying, "Are you here to see President Chen? He's busy and not here today."
This answer was exactly what Xing Lan had expected.
He sighed softly, "Okay, I'll come again tomorrow."
"Hey." Yan Jie called out to him, glancing down at his black digital watch. "It's so late, let's have dinner together."
Xing Lan didn't know why, but he suddenly thought of what Li Baidong had said to him during the day.
I wonder what this kid will cook tonight. He's quite good at cooking; the noodles he made this morning were pretty good too. It's a pity I didn't have time to eat more of them.
Seeing that it was getting dark outside, Xing Lan politely declined, saying, "No, my dog is still waiting for me at home."
Yan Jie paused for a moment, then suddenly said, "President Chen is not here this week. The CEO of Chuangchuan invited his whole family to go on vacation out of town."
This was the first time he had heard of such a thing. Xing Lan frowned, his expression immediately becoming serious.
“Chuangchuan has always been your company’s biggest competitor, right?” Yan Jie raised his hand to push up his glasses and said quickly like a robot, “President Chen actually has no problem with your company. The reason he doesn’t want to renew the contract with you this time is because they have been actively interfering.”
"I heard that they even helped Mr. Chen resolve his daughter's desire to change her major in college. Now Mr. Chen's attitude is also wavering."
“If you…” Yan Jie coughed, his ears suddenly turning a little red, “If you can have dinner with me today, I’ll try to arrange for you to meet with President Chen as soon as possible. You two can have a good talk, and maybe things will take a turn for the better.”
After Yan Jie finished speaking, he kept his head down, his eyes fixed on the marble floor beneath his feet. It was more like he was inviting a crack in the ground than inviting Xing Lan.
Xing Lan thought for a moment. Eating is something you do no matter where you are. It's more important to win back the company's clients.
-
Even after the dishes on the table had gone cold, Li Baidong still didn't touch his chopsticks.
He drew back the curtains in the living room and immediately saw Xing Lan getting out of a black car by the roadside downstairs.
With him was a slightly taller man wearing glasses. It was too dark to see clearly what the four-eyed man looked like, but Li Baidong could see clearly that both of his eyes were glued to Xing Lan.
He lowered his gaze, his face immediately turning extremely cold, almost unrecognizable from his usual smiling demeanor.
Even the fox was startled by his sudden drop in pressure, meowed, and quickly scurried away from his feet to a safe distance.
However, the moment Xing Lan opened the door, a pure and innocent smile immediately appeared on his face, and he went over to greet Xing Lan with the dog and cat in the house.
"Brother, why are you so late?" Li Baidong took the initiative to reach out and warmly helped Xing Lan take the briefcase from his hands.
"Something came up at the company."
After changing her shoes in the hallway, Xing Lan looked up and saw a table full of dishes on the dining table.
There were several meat dishes alone, including garlic vermicelli shrimp, chestnut stewed chicken, and a tempting-looking steamed glutinous rice ribs.
These are all ingredients that are quite difficult to handle, so it's clear that Li Baidong put a lot of effort into making them. However, they've all stopped steaming now, so the taste is probably greatly diminished.
Turning their heads again, the two found themselves face to face.
Li Baidong stared at him blankly like a pitiful abandoned puppy, his eyes filled with loneliness.
"What a pity, the food is all cold."
"I already said, you don't need to prepare anything special for me." Xing Lan's tone was as flat as a straight line. "I'm busy with work, and I usually get off work very late. You can eat by yourself, you don't need to wait for me."
"It's okay." Li Baidong was very resilient; he only felt down for a few seconds before quickly cheering himself up again. "Brother, are you hungry? If you are, I'll heat it up for you..."
Xing Lan waved to him and went straight to the bathroom, seemingly preparing to wash up and go to bed.
Li Baidong stared at the cold food on the table, his eyes darkening.
The sound of running water came from the bathroom.
A few minutes later, Xing Lan suddenly turned back.
Li Baidong composed himself and looked up at him.
Xing Lan rolled up her shirt sleeves slightly, picked up a shrimp from the plate, and slowly peeled off its shell with her freshly washed hands. She dipped the shrimp in the vinegar dish next to her, eating with great elegance.
"Use less garlic when cooking shrimp in the future." Xing Lan chewed a small bite, frowning slightly. "The flavor is too strong."
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