Chapter 014 I accept my fate.

  *

  Su Xian recognized her: this was the girl who was eating lunch with Li Chengshi at the park canteen that day. Su Xian had originally intended to use that as an excuse to stop bringing Li Chengshi breakfast, but he chose the breakfast over the girlfriend.

  "Oh, you must be Li Chengshi's girlfriend, right? Hello." She greeted her with a smile, feeling another chance to tease the "puppy" had arrived.

  Huang Pinghe didn't know how to answer at first. They had agreed to pretend to be dating in front of their parents to stop them from constantly arranging blind dates, but did she need to lie to this female superior? After a few moments of thought, she remembered that the person who set her up with Li Chengshi was Anliang Construction's General Manager Liang, so this Team Leader was likely part of the parent-alliance camp. So she said, "Yes, Team Leader, call me Xiao Huang."

  Li Chengshi was frantically signaling her with his eyes, nearly making his face twitch. When he saw Su Xian's smug "you can't fool me" expression, he instantly felt depressed.

  "But Little Bear, why did you let the Team Leader pay the bill?" She had just seen Li Chengshi put his items into Su Xian's shopping basket.

  Li Chengshi stammered an explanation, "Our company’s leaders are really nice and often buys us food."

  "It's nothing." Su Xian took Huang Pinghe's items and put them into her own basket. "Since you're Xiao Li's girlfriend, today is my treat for everything." Of course, she intended to deduct the cost from Li Chengshi's money.

  "Thank you, Team Leader." Huang Pinghe knew that being too polite to a superior could sometimes seem disrespectful.

  "Wait, what did you just call him?"

  "Oh, Auntie Li said that the family used to have a Bichon Frise named Big Bear, and Xiao Li always called it 'Brother,' so he got the nickname Little Bear."

  "You are so cute, Li Chengshi." Su Xian smiled radiantly and casually grabbed two cans of potato chips from the shelf and put them in. "Here are some extra snacks for your slack time."

  "Thank you, Team Leader."

  "You're welcome. Since you're in the same park, you can come visit our company sometime. We have a TV in our lounge area."

  "That would be great. My boss is so cheap; we don't even have a pantry, so we have to buy bottled water."

  "It's fine in the summer, but when it gets cold, bring a thermos and come over. Have Li Chengshi get you hot water."

  "Can I?" Huang Pinghe looked at Li Chengshi.

  Li Chengshi was pinching the Cheetos on the shelf.

  "Li Chengshi, did you hear me?" Su Xian urged.

  "I heard you," he replied flatly, without turning his head.

  *

  Entering the elevator, Su Xian whistled, making pss pss pss sounds with her mouth, and called out loudly, "Little Bear!"

  Li Chengshi pouted, glaring at her, silent.

  Su Xian couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  "I told you, she's not my girlfriend." The moment the elevator door opened, Li Chengshi said this, grabbed his food bag, and strode into the company.

  Su Xian laughed for a good while behind him before composing her expression and following him in.

  **

  Today, Design Group 2 only had Su Xian and one dispatched draftsman. After the holiday, they would enter the construction drawing phase, requiring thousands of various drawings to be produced in a short time. Anliang usually sends such large-scale work to outsourcing companies, but to correctly convey the drawing requirements, they first had to create detailed drawing instruction sheets. Moreover, this was the largest single-unit project Su Xian had ever managed, and she truly wanted to personally control every detail.

  Besides, she just got a 400,000 yuan bonus; she felt guilty if she didn't work extra hard.

  *

  At lunchtime, Li Chengshi walked towards her area, presumably to ask her to go to the convenience store. However, she was busy discussing an issue with the draftsman, so he turned and left. After they resolved the problem, the draftsman left for lunch, and Li Chengshi returned, having bought her a chicken cutlet sandwich, seaweed salad, and iced green tea.

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  "Thanks, I'll transfer 20 yuan to your WeChat."

  "No need to transfer. Just add 20 to my 100,000, okay?"

  "If I add it to your balance, I'll have to buy you breakfast three more times. Don't think I'm confused."

  "But I don't want to leave a transfer record."

  "It's 20 yuan, not 100,000!"

  Li Chengshi pouted, silently consenting. He pulled Xu Shu's chair over and sat beside her, tearing open the lid of a cup of instant noodles and pouring hot water from his thermos into it.

  "What are you doing? Go eat at your own desk."

  "Engineer Zhang doesn't like the smell of instant noodles."

  That was true; Lao Zhang used to complain about her instant noodle smells whenever they worked late together.

  *

  Su Xian turned on a talk show, put on her headphones, and ate while watching.

  Li Chengshi slowly scooted over from the side of the desk, staring at the subtitles, watching with her.

  Su Xian didn't notice him getting closer. When she laughed passionately, she raised her hand and knocked the instant noodles he was holding, spilling the soup all over his chest and thighs. Just as they were scrambling to clean up the mess, Lao Zhang returned from lunch. Seeing the scene, he said with a wry smile, "Xiao Li, with that smell of stinky feet all over you, how is anyone supposed to work?"

  "Engineer Zhang, this is sour cabbage instant noodles, not stinky feet noodles."

  "Isn't it all the same?" Lao Zhang pinched his nose and walked away.

  Su Xian mopped the floor and cleaned up the trash. Li Chengshi had already wiped himself dry, but the stains on his white T-shirt and light-colored jeans would be hard to wash out. He pulled up his shirt and sniffed it. "Engineer Zhang definitely won't let me sit at my desk. Team Leader, I'll bring my laptop over and work here."

  "You're quite dedicated. But why work? Go home and change clothes! By the way, how much did those clothes cost? I'll pay for them; I'll add the money to your balance." She felt somewhat guilty.

  "If you put it on my balance, you'll have to buy me dozens more breakfasts. Are you willing to do that?"

  "I accept my fate." He really is impossible to guard against.

  Li Chengshi thought for a moment and said, "How about this: I'll work here this afternoon. After work, you take me to Uniqlo to buy new clothes, and then you deduct the money from my balance."

  "Wouldn't you be at a disadvantage? The clothes should be my compensation; I can't deduct it from your money."

  "I'm not as shrewd as you."

  The comment sounded like sarcasm, but why not take the offer?

  The draftsman returned after lunch and, upon reaching Design Group 2, sniffed the air and asked, "Team Leader, why does it smell like stinky feet in here?"

  Li Chengshi pointed to his clothes and said, "Sour cabbage noodles."

  *

  Around six o'clock, as the car drove out of the park gate, Su Xian continued to tease the "puppy." "Ask Xiao Huang if she's off work. Call her, and I'll buy her a few outfits too."

  "If you buy her clothes, use your own money."

  "You're so stingy."

  "If you buy clothes for yourself, you can deduct it from my money."

  Su Xian remained silent.

  "I knew saying that would scare you off, hmph!" Li Chengshi had already figured out her weakness. Any expression of favoritism would trigger her alarm and panic. It felt like she viewed being loved by him as a huge inconvenience.

  "Don't get cocky, Li Chengshi."

  "Otherwise, what can you do?"

  She thought about it and realized there truly was nothing she could do. She muttered, "I'm going home to stick pins in a voodoo doll."

  "How old-fashioned."

  "What's strange about that? I'm a person from the last century."

  *