Tl: Hua
After Ye Boxuan made the final decision, he called the Butler and ordered: “Old Yang, tell the kitchen staff to make dinner more hearty and cook Xiao Qin’s…”
Halfway through, he turned to ask Ye Rongxu: “What are his preferences in food?”
Ye Rongxu: “Uh.”
How would he know?
After thinking carefully, he tried: “Salted beans and fried eggs?”
Ye Boxuan: “…”
“Forget it, let the kitchen make more home-cooked dishes.” He told the Butler, and when Ye Rongxu turned the wheelchair, trying to run away, he reminded him: “Don’t forget to call him.”
Ye Rongxu froze, and whispered after a while, “I know.”
*
In the reception room of Hongsheng Group, Qin Chaoyan and his colleagues from Qin’s branch have been waiting here for nearly two hours.
When his cell phone rang, he took it out and glanced at it quickly. Seeing that it was Ye Rongxu, his expression was obviously a bit surprising.
Sitting next to him was Manager Lou. Catching a glimpse of this scene from the corner of his eye, he smiled knowingly and said, “Mr. Qin, Mr. Lu will probably take some time, so you go and answer it first.”
Qin Chaoyan glanced at him, nodded, and stood up with the phone.
“Hello, Qin Chaoyan?” After the call was connected, Ye Rongxu’s seemingly unnatural voice came out quickly.
Qin Chaoyan’s frown relaxed slightly. He asked, “What’s the matter?”
Ye Rongxu nodded his head on the other end of the phone. His thin white fingers grasped the cell phone, blocking half of his face, and he asked seriously, “Are you busy tonight? Are you working overtime?”
Qin Chaoyan put down the phone, looked at the time, then put it back to his ear, and said, “Not busy, I can get off work on time.”
“Oh.” Ye Rongxu’s tone was slightly regretful, and he asked reservedly, “Then can you come to my house for dinner tonight?”
“Tonight?” Qin Chaoyan repeated it subconsciously.
“Yeah.” Ye Rongxu nodded again on the other end of the phone and whispered, “My dad asked me to call you over. Do you understand what I mean?”
Qin Chaoyan: “…”
“Tsk, hey, we just have to pretend to be affectionate and not let anyone see any problems, do you understand?” Ye Rongxu lowered his voice and said it sneakily.
After hesitating for a moment, he said, “But if you–” need to work overtime…
Before he finished the rest of the words, Qin Chaoyan’s voice came out: “Okay.”
After a pause, as if to emphasize, he added, “I’ll go over as soon as I get off work.”
Ye Rongxu: “…”Okay.
Unable to evade, he could only accept his fate. He asked again, “What do you want to eat tonight? Do you have any special dishes you like?”
Qin Chaoyan was stunned. From childhood to adulthood, no one had ever asked him such a question or cared about it. Even he himself had always been satisfied with being full and had never thought about preference.
He fell into silence for a moment, until Ye Rongxu’s urging voice came. Only then did his voice slightly lower and say, “I’m fine with anything.”
“What do you mean by anything? How can there be such a dish as anything?” Ye Rongxu complained softly on the other end of the phone, “Don’t you have anything you particularly like to eat? I’ll ask the kitchen to make it for you.”
After all, Qin Chaoyan stewed soup for him twice, and he should return the favor. It’s just a matter of moving his lips to instruct the kitchen anyway.
Besides, every time Qin Jingxu came to the Ye family, they would specially make the king crab he liked to eat. It doesn’t make sense that after the engagement partner was changed to Qin Chaoyan, the treatment would be worse than Qin Jingxu.
“No, you have to think of one.” Ye Rongxu asked willfully.
Qin Chaoyan’s thick, long eyelashes drooped slightly, and after a long time, he said, “Fish, I like to eat fish.”
Ye Rongxu’s eyes lit up slightly, and he seemed very happy. Holding the phone, he said, “Okay, I’ll tell Uncle Yang right now and ask him to make more fish dishes.”
Qin Chaoyan’s lips gradually curled up, and his eyes seemed to be stained with a bit of warmth.
In the reception room, seeing Qin Chaoyan go out, another manager of the Qin branch coughed lightly and couldn’t help saying, “Our young President Qin is really a busy man. He’s still a student but is already occupied with company affairs.”
Manager Lou frowned slightly.
The man looked at him and lowered his voice: “Boss Lou, I really feel sorry for you. You are a senior executive at the headquarters, but the old madam somehow transfers you to the branch to be a subordinate of young President Qin. What is this called? Accompanying the crown prince to study? The main point is whether he’s the real crown prince…”
“Ahem, that’s too much, Manager You. There are things you shouldn’t say out loud.” Manager Lou frowned and interrupted him.
Manager You was embarrassed when he heard this and immediately stopped talking.
He crossed his legs and waited for another ten minutes. When he saw that Mr. Lu from Hongsheng had not come yet, he couldn’t help but mutter again: “If you ask me, Hongsheng’s sudden decision to decline cooperation with us and Mr. Lu’s reluctance to meet us may be related to the personnel changes in our branch.”
He didn’t say the latter part directly, but the meaning was very clear, implying that Hongsheng would terminate the cooperation if a prince suddenly came to lead the branch.
That’s right. A student with no experience suddenly became the top leader. Which partner can trust him? Isn’t this just a child playing house?
Although Qin Chaoyan is currently only the nominal top leader, the person who actually manages the branch is Manager Lou. Qin Chaoyan mainly learns from Manager Lou, but people outside may not know.
Isn’t Hongsheng not continuing to cooperate after the cooperation expires?
“Hongsheng is our old client. We have cooperated for seven or eight years. Now the economic environment is not good, and the company’s situation is getting worse year by year. If the prince loses a big customer who has cooperated with us for many years as soon as he comes, I think it will be a disaster.” Manager You sneered and shook his head, with a sense of watching a good show.
As soon as the voice fell, Qin Chaoyan, who had just answered the phone, pushed the door in and swept the room with his dark eyes.
Manager You hurriedly put down his leg, sat up right, and schooled his expression to a serious state.
Qin Chaoyan glanced at him, and after a moment, he looked at Manager Lou. Manager Lou smiled at him.
Qin Chaoyan said nothing and walked to his previous seat.
Manager You looked at him, then at Manager Lou, who had been sitting on the fence this entire time, coughed lightly, and stopped talking.
The atmosphere in the room suddenly fell into an unspeakable awkwardness.
The three of them waited in the reception room for nearly an hour until the end of the working hour. The secretary in charge of reception came over and apologized: “I’m really sorry, Mr. Lu has something urgent and couldn’t come…”
When they walked out of the door of Hongsheng Group, Qin Chaoyan and Manager Lou looked unhappy. Manager Lou patted Qin Chaoyan on the shoulder and comforted him: “It’s okay. Cooperation talk is mostly like this. Nothing goes smoothly. Good things take time.”
Manager You stood behind the two of them and snorted, but didn’t say anything.
“By the way, Mr. Qin, are you going back to the company or…” Manager Lou raised his hand and looked at his watch, saying, “It’s time to get off work.”
Qin Chaoyan said in a light tone, “I’m going home.”
*
At seven o’clock in the evening, the lights in the Ye family villa were brightly lit.
Qin Chaoyan was led into the living room by the Butler, carrying the fruits he bought at the supermarket.
Grandma Ye hurriedly stood up to greet him. Seeing that he was even carrying fruit, she couldn’t help saying: “It’s good enough as long as you come. You don’t need to buy anything.”
Then she handed the fruit to the Butler and said: “Hurry up and have someone wash it. This was specially bought by Chaoyan. Let’s eat them first.”
Ye Rongxu: “Ahem.” Not what I want to eat.
It was for Ye Boxuan to be present in the living room instead of the study. After Qin Chaoyan sat down, he started chatting, first asking him how his studies were recently and then asking about his internship at the company.
It was called chatting, but in fact he asked, and Qin Chaoyan answered.
After learning that Hongsheng would no longer continue to cooperate as soon as Qin Chaoyan joined the company, Ye Boxuan commented: “Hongsheng may have some concerns. You follow Lou Xinyu to meet them more often. Show your strength and sincerity. The situation at the branch is still okay. There is no problem taking on Hongsheng’s projects.”
Lou Xinyu is manager Lou. Grandma Qin specially transferred him to the branch to teach Qin Chaoyan how to manage the company.
Qin Chaoyan nodded, hesitated, and told him some of his thoughts since the internship.
Ye Boxuan nodded frequently, his eyes showed some approval, and he gave some advice from time to time.
After listening for a while, Grandma Ye couldn’t help but say, “Look at you. You keep talking about the company’s affairs and even drag Chaoyan to talk about them. Why don’t you return the person to Xuxu quickly and let the young couple spend more time together?”
Ye Rongxu, who was pinching grapes to eat, “…”
No, just let him talk to my dad.
Ye Boxuan coughed lightly, and then realized that he had talked too much: “The meal is ready, let’s eat first. Xuxu, you should also eat less grapes; otherwise, you will have sour teeth1Sensitive teeth?.”
Grandma Ye tasted a grape and said: “This grape is sweet, not sour.”
Then she looked at her son and made it clear in her tone: “These grapes were bought by Chaoyan.”
Ye Boxuan: “…Ahem, you have to eat them properly.”
Ye Rongxu pinched a grape with water droplets on his thin white fingers, and suddenly he didn’t know whether to eat it or not.
Seeing this, Qin Chaoyan held his thin white wrist and said, “It’s time for dinner. I’ll eat this one.”
As he said that, he took the grape from between his fingers and put it in his mouth.
Ye Rongxu turned his head and looked at him blankly.
Qin Chaoyan whispered in his ear, “Acting.”
Ye Rongxu: Ah? Oh.
He came back to his senses instantly, subconsciously picked another grape, and sent it directly to Qin Chaoyan’s mouth, saying attentively, “Eat more.”
Qin Chaoyan: “…”
When biting off the grape, his slightly cold lips accidentally touched Ye Rongxu’s fingertips.
The two of them froze at the same time, and then Qin Chaoyan bit off the grape as if nothing had happened. But after eating, he subconsciously pursed his lips, and the tip of his tongue lightly rested against the location that had been touched.
Ye Rongxu also retracted his hand suddenly, subconsciously rubbing his fingertips, and then realized, Did I overact?
So when eating, he was like a turtle retracting into its shell, just eating his own food.
Qin Chaoyan saw that there were at least three fish dishes on the table, and they were all placed close to him, so he turned his head and looked at Ye Rongxu.
Ye Rongxu was eating with his head down, revealing only a pair of slightly red ears.
Qin Chaoyan thought for a moment, picked up a piece of fish with chopsticks, picked out the bones, and put it on the plate in front of him.
Ye Rongxu noticed it and looked up at Qin Chaoyan.
Qin Chaoyan’s lips, which were always slightly pursed, revealed a hint of smile, and his dark eyes seemed to have emotions, no longer indifferent while looking at him: “You eat too.”
Ye Rongxu: “…” Oops.
His ears are hot again.
Eat, let’s eat. These are all just acts.
He suddenly lowered his head again and took the fish like a cat. Qin Chaoyan fed him, and he would eat.
The other people at the table couldn’t help but smile as they watched them interact.
After dinner, Ye Boxuan seemed to have some appreciation for Qin Chaoyan because of the conversation before dinner, so he called him to the study to continue talking about company management.
It was almost ten o’clock when they finished chatting. Ye Boxuan admired Qin Chaoyan more and more. When he walked out of the study, he said: “You have good understanding. If you have any questions about company management in the future, ask Lou Xinyu or ask me.”
Qin Chaoyan nodded and thanked him: “Thank you, uncle.”
When he got downstairs, Ye Boxuan realized that it was already very late. He couldn’t help but say, “Don’t go back tonight; stay here. You don’t have work or make-up class tomorrow, right?”
Qin Chaoyan nodded again.
The make-up class for the senior high school students of No. 1 High School is one week of make-up and one week of rest, not every week. He really doesn’t have to go to school this weekend.
Ye Boxuan: “Then go out and play with Xuxu tomorrow. He stays at home all day and has no one to accompany him. Besides, it seems that you two haven’t seen each other for quite some time.”
Qin Chaoyan heard this and immediately said, “Okay.”
Ye Boxuan smiled with satisfaction. After going to the living room, he told the Butler, “Old Yang, ask someone to clean up a guest room. Xiao Qin will stay here tonight.”
Ye Rongxu was watching TV with his grandparents in the living room. He turned his head in surprise when he heard this and happened to meet Qin Chaoyan’s gaze.
The Butler listened to Ye Boxuan’s instructions and smiled as if he had expected them: “No need, sir. The young master asked me to clean up the room next to him a long time ago and reserved it for Mr. Qin to live in when he comes home. All the necessities are readily available.”
Ye Boxuan was surprised when he heard this. He looked at Ye Rongxu and asked, “Really?”
“Huh?” Ye Rongxu’s face was dumbfounded, his eyes were still on Qin Chaoyan’s.
The Butler also looked at him and said with a smile, “Young Master, don’t you remember? Just half a month ago, you asked me to send Mr. Qin’s clothes to the room next to you.”
Ye Rongxu: “Ah…ah, yes, yes, I asked you to do that.”
That’s true, but he didn’t ask Uncle Yang to make that room Qin Chaoyan’s exclusive bedroom.
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