Chen Wang's legs turned to jelly, and he almost knelt right there in the street. "Boss."
Gu Jingxing walked over slowly and glanced at him. "What nonsense are you spouting again?"
Chen Wang looked deeply aggrieved. "I'm not spouting nonsense. I'm warning her. Boss, I'm really worried about you. Even though I would never betray you, sooner or later someone is going to figure out the truth. Once Sister Xi finds out, you're going to be in huge trouble."
Gu Jingxing raised his foot and kicked Chen Wang right in the backside. "Get lost."
Chen Wang stumbled forward a few steps from the kick, turned back as if he wanted to say something else, but was forced to swallow his words under Gu Jingxing's cold gaze. He curled his lips. "Fine, I'll go back first. You... you guys take your time chatting."
Chen Wang looked back every three steps as he walked deeper into the alley, finally entering a courtyard through the doors of a traditional building.
Qiao An knew that Haicheng still preserved quite a few ancient buildings, but she hadn't expected to find such a secluded place hidden right in the middle of the downtown area. She looked at Gu Jingxing. "Is that a restaurant?"
"Mm." Gu Jingxing lit a cigarette, his expression detached. "What nonsense were you telling Chen Wang?"
"How was I talking nonsense?" Qiao An couldn't help laughing. "Your friend is so funny. I hadn't even said anything yet, and he was already earnestly trying to advise me on all sorts of things."
She put her hands behind her back and swayed slightly, putting on the posture of a young girl. "He kept advising me not to ruin the relationship between you and Miss Lin. He's a good guy."
"He's a good guy, so you decided to toy with him?"
"When did I?" Qiao An raised her leg and gave Gu Jingxing's shin a light kick. "I didn't even say a few words, he said everything on his own. You're wronging me!"
Gu Jingxing blew out a ring of smoke, his narrow, deep eyes narrowing. "Wronging you?"
Qiao An looked around, and making sure no one was there, she pressed close to him. Her fingers slid through the gap in his shirt, feeling around his solid chest with a mischievous smile. "It's not entirely wrong, though."
Seeing that Gu Jingxing didn't push her away, she stood on tiptoe, stopped at the man's Adam's apple, and deliberately blew a warm breath against it, making the red mole tremble slightly.
"I'm just loving the dog for the sake of its master."
Gu Jingxing finally moved.
He suddenly reached out, grabbed Qiao An's hair, and yanked it back.
A pain shot through her scalp, and Qiao An instinctively arched her back backward.
The man's cold and sharp brows and eyes fell upon her slightly parted red lips, his narrow and sharp eyes narrowing. "When do you plan to leave?"
"Leave?" Qiao An blinked, unfazed by her taut scalp, and reached out to hook his tie, pulling hard. She yanked him toward her chest.
Until their breaths mingled, a trace of wicked charm appeared in Qiao An's smile. She opened her mouth and lightly bit the man's jaw with her white teeth. "What, is big brother already tired of playing?"
Her other hand slid down along his pectoral muscles until it stopped at his lower abdomen, speaking with a double entendre. "That's not what it's saying."
Seeing the pitch-black darkness swirling in the depths of the man's eyes, Qiao An softened her voice and withdrew her hand. "I just started my job yesterday, this is only my second day. Big brother's 37-degree mouth speaking such ice-cold words really breaks my heart."
Gu Jingxing let go of her hair and pushed her toward the wall.
Qiao An leaned against the wall, glanced down at the spot where he was reacting, and smiled even more sweetly.
Gu Jingxing took a few hard drags on his cigarette. "Why did you come to work at Gu Group?"
After steadying herself, Qiao An tidied her fluffy long hair. "The company is good, the pay is good, and the work is challenging?"
She thought about it again. "I think as my first job, Gu Group is a very suitable fit."
Listening to her stream of lies and nonsense, Gu Jingxing tugged at his twisted tie. "Giving up graduation to run over to Gu Group to do odd jobs—that really is very challenging."
"So what? Country M is different from here. You can find employment just fine even without graduating. Big brother wouldn't be like those old fogies who value educational background over ability, would you?"
Gu Jingxing sneered. "What is your ability? Sleeping your way to the top?"
As soon as he finished speaking, his tongue paused, and he frowned slightly, seeming dissatisfied with himself for uttering such vulgar words.
Qiao An raised an eyebrow. "That's an ability too. At least big brother enjoys it just as much."
Gu Jingxing flicked his ash. "Did you return to the country just to climb into my bed? Did Lin Xi offend you?"
"What does Miss Lin have to do with this?" Qiao An smiled wildly. "I just like big brother and want to stay by big brother's side for a long, long time."
"You certainly dare to dream," Gu Jingxing scoffed.
"That night at the hotel, it was big brother's first time too, right?" Qiao An stepped closer, her voice seductive and husky. "You've been dating Miss Lin for three years and never even touched her. Why is that?"
Gu Jingxing's expression turned gloomy. "Get lost."
Qiao An pressed close to him again. "I won't! I like big brother, so I want to cuddle."
Gu Jingxing's eyes were steeped in coldness. "You're driving me crazy with your flirting."
Qiao An's expression paused, clearly not expecting Gu Jingxing to say something like that.
Gu Jingxing threw his cigarette onto the ground and ground it out. "The difference between human beings and beasts is that humans don't go into heat anytime, anywhere."
Looking at him, Qiao An's eyes quickly turned red, and she sobbed aggrievedly. "Yet even beasts know to follow their instincts, while some people refuse this happiness written right into our genes. Big brother, you've broken my heart."
As she spoke, she grabbed Gu Jingxing's hand and pressed it against the left side of her chest.
Gu Jingxing sneered, pushed her away, and turned to walk toward the restaurant.
Qiao An watched his back, raising a hand to wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes.
Men, they were all cheap. If once didn't work, she'd try twice; if twice didn't work, three times. The man who had previously been unwilling to even look at her—wasn't he already able to chat with her for this long now?
Next time, if there was a next time, she would...
Qiao An sneered softly and turned back into the small restaurant.
When she sat down again, two small plates of light, plain green vegetables were placed at her spot. Qiao An looked surprised.
Liu Can whispered, "Did your friend scold you just now? Wouldn't let you eat spicy food?"
Qiao An said apologetically, "Mm, my stomach isn't very good, I can't handle anything too irritating."
"If you can't eat it, you can't eat it, it's nothing to be ashamed of." Liu Can motioned for her to eat those two light dishes. "Just eat these, nobody will mind."
A warmth spread through the bottom of Qiao An's heart, and she thanked Liu Can.
After lunch, the department returned to the company together.
Qiao An ordered fruit tea delivery and sent it to Liu Can.
Liu Can smiled. "What are you doing this for?"
"Thanks for noon."
"What's there to thank? We're all colleagues."
Qiao An said softly, "But you're the first colleague to treat me this way."
Liu Can looked like she wanted to say something, but in the end, nothing came out, and she only reached out and patted Qiao An's arm.
...
When Gu Jingxing returned to the private room, he saw that Xie Jibai, Chen Wang, and Lu Yi had all arrived.
The few of them were talking about something, but stopped as soon as they saw him enter.
Gu Jingxing sat down in his seat and poured himself a cup of tea. "Listening to Chen Wang spout nonsense again?"
Chen Wang: "Boss, how was I spouting nonsense? Everything I said is the truth! You were just with that—Mph!"
Xie Jibai shoved a peach pastry bun into his mouth, blocking Chen Wang's endless chatter. "Qiao An's background check has arrived. However..."
A kraft paper envelope thick enough to hold dozens of sheets of paper landed lightly on the table. Xie Jibai opened it and pulled out only two thin sheets of paper.
Gu Jingxing frowned and took them. "Just this?"
"Just this," Xie Jibai said.