Please Be More Serious Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Chinese Handsome - Pintrest.com
A
s he bedded
down for the night, he got a text message from Yin Ting, ‘I forgot to tell you,
although people say to climb high, I think Yong Kai is already very high, you
have to carefully consider your position oh. I know there is an offer on the
table and everyone has their own plan. I’m not trying to interfere; I’m just
standing out in the rain.’
Zhenqing
frowned, so what are you trying to say Miss Ying Ting?
Zhengqing
was quite satisfied with the status quo; Qin Wen Yi gave him a lot of support,
s.p.a.ce to do his own thing, paid him well and he felt like a valued
employee. Qin Wen Yi was also very
generous and trustworthy. Several times in the course of their partnership, Qin
Wen Yi had been the one to extend the olive branch.
When he
first met Qin Wen Yi, it wasn’t an automatically successful negotiation. They
met several times and had lots of chats. Wen Yi did not tell him of the work
conditions but talked about Yong Kai. Zhengqing a.n.a.lyzed Yong Kai’s strength
and weaknesses, while Wen Yi a.n.a.lysed Zhengqing’s academic performance and
professional experience, things he heard via word of mouth, resources (Zuben:
Sounds droll. Asia and academic prowess. I dunno any Asians so I dunno if book
smart but cant work is a thing there)
He told Chou
Zhengqing, Yongkai needed him.
Zhengqing
was impressed: Yongkai needed him.
He knew with
his abilities many companies wanted someone like him, but he needed a boss like
Wen Yi and a workplace like Yong Kai. He accepted without the thought of the
salary. Wen Yi asked him how much he thought he was worth, Zhengqing gave a
high number that was not modest.
But Wen Yi
only laughed and said, ‘You know your worth, but in my heart you are worth
more. I hope you understand that you can get more than you want; this is
ambition. Young people must have ambition or the higher levels will be filled
with too many old men.’ In the end, Wen Yi paid Zhengqing one and a half times
his requested salary.
But time proved
that being young was a big disadvantage for Zhengqing (Zuben: Isn’t that
because you live is a seniority obsessed society?). In his rise through the
ranks, he encountered a lot of intentional obstacles and lack of cooperation. But
Zhengqing found it challenging, it excited him and spurned him to work even
harder. Zhengqing had come to Yong Kai on Qin Wen Yi’s behest, and Zhengqing
wanted to fight for his place.
Eventually,
he won the executives over. The veteran board were now respectful to him. He
had Qin Wen Yi’s appreciation and trust. Wen Yi became interested in getting
his daughter Yufei and Zhengqing together. Since Yong Kai had no successor,
Zhengqing was a worthy candidate. (Zuben: You could always just give it to your
daughter to run)
But
Yufei and Zhengqing remained lukewarm at best. Neither of them was romantically
interested in the other.
Although at
the start Zhengqing considered leaving Yong Kai, that idea was long behind him.
As long as Yong Kai was Yong Kai and Wen Yi was Wen Yi, he was not leaving.
There was no reason to give up long term development for a quick profit.
❀❀❀
The next
day, Qin Yufei came to see him and asked him to lunch.
Since he
knew it was impossible for her to like him like that, he was not worried that he
was being tested for a date, so his first reaction was, ‘Have you done
something bad?’
‘I may be
superficial, but I don’t do bad things.’
‘Okay, what
do you need me for?’
Qin
Yufei gave him a casual look and said, ‘You think too much, can’t two colleagues
occasionally eat together, chat, get to know each other, reach a more tacit
understanding of each other…?’
Zhengqing
frowned, ‘It still sounds a bit shifty to me,’ but he didn’t refuse. So they
went to eat lunch.
At lunch,
Yufei did talk about work for a bit but he was still suspicious. When they were
half way through their meal, Yufei asked, ‘Qiu Zong, what do you think of Gu
Yingjie?’
‘Very good,
he’s practical, hard working, and promising.’ Zhengqing said; his evaluation
completed.
Qin Yufei
dawdled for a while and said, ‘Ah I wanted to say, I am in love with him.’
‘Oh,’
Zhengqing realised this was the original reason for their lunch. It seems that
Yin Ting’s red string not only moves one’s own peach blossom but also other’s
peach blossom. (Zuben: all those peach blossoms sound so inappropriate. Can’t
we just use springtime?)
‘I dare not
tell my parents. I don’t know how my dad will take it. Do you think he’ll
oppose us if he knew?’
He wasn’t her
parents, how was he to know? But it was normal to give comfort so he would try,
‘I don’t think
you should worry about this. Did you ask me to eat just to ask about what
President Qin might think?’
‘Of course
not,’ she said, ‘Truthfully, I wanted to talk to you about Xiao Ting.’
Yin Ting?
What does she have to do with Gu Yingjie?
‘What about
her?’ he asked.
‘I heard
that when she came to the company to see me, she came by the meeting room and
saw you and Yingjie, she asked you out for a meal. Gu Yingjie thought she was very
warm to you and that she might be interested in you, since she offered an
invitation to you. It might have surprised you since you don’t know her very
well, and you might misunderstand her, so I asked you out for a meal to clarify
matters.’
‘…’ Zhengqing
was mollified; black lines hovered over his head. How could he think that Yin
Ting was interested in him? That girl that was hugged tightly by a G.o.d of thoughtlessness.
Actually, he had thought Yin Ting was interested in Gu YIngjie, but he wouldn’t
tell Yufei that, he didn’t want to get her into trouble.
‘I wanted to
ask you not misunderstand how she thinks of you. At that time things were
awkward with Yingjie, I did not want to see him. So I asked Xiao-Ting to come
and help me get rid of him.’ Yufei’s explanation was long winded but he focused
on one thing.
‘What you’re
saying is you were at the office, but ignored my instructions and refused to
come to a meeting. Not only that you got an outsider to interrupt my
conversation with our customers? What kind of work att.i.tude is this? You have
to behave responsibly; you can’t allow your personal feelings to affect your performance.
That is unprofessional.’
‘Stop,
please, stop,’ Yufei cried, but Zhengqing did not care for her discomfort. He
went on and on, Yufei snapped.
But
Zhengqing did not back down. It was an opportunity to stop Yufei’s
irresponsible behaviour. As they returned to the company, Yufei regretted
asking Zhengqing out for a meal.
Zhengqing
thought it was a little strange, in order to prevent any misunderstanding about
Ying Ting about him. Just for a misunderstanding, these pair of friends put up
a performance. They really had no scruples. Also why did Yin Ting give him the
red string, and the grapefruit?
Zhengqing would
like to try and understand but eventually the conclusion was that you could not
guess what women were thinking, it was a waste of time and it did not matter to
him.
Later on,
Zhengqing had a meeting with Wen Yi. On his way back to his office, he met
Yufei with a strange hesitant expression on her face. Zhengqing didn’t bother
guessing what was up with her and went on his way; he had a lot of work to do.
He did not
expect that the next afternoon Yufei suddenly rushed into his office to ask him
whether he talked to her father about Gu Yingjie.
Zhengqing
was surprised, ‘President Qin? We didn’t talk about that.’ He said.
Yufei was looked
surprised, ‘You mean that you and my father talked for half a day and you did
not mention the Gu Yingjie?
‘No,’
Zhengqing said confused, ‘It is your private matter, if you want to tell
President Qin then tell him. Why would I, an outsider, tell him? Why would I be
gossiping about this?’ But Yufei did not seem thankful for his discretion, she actually
she seemed more angry.
He was
really flabbergasted now, ‘Did you deliberately tell me about him so that I
will talk to your dad?’
Yufei’s face
darkened, ‘Of course not,’ she replied and she turned away. (Zuben: I don’t
know if it is already obvious, but I do not like Yufei)
Zhengqing
thought about it for a while, but did not understand. Miss Qin was a usually
straightforward person, when did she become so befuddled and reserved?
The thought
of reserved made him think of Yin Ting. He knows Yu Fei would tell Yin Ting
about what was happening. Yufei would complain to Yin Ting if she had wanted
him to help.
To be
honest, he did not want to help and he did not even know if she wanted help.
Women are really troublesome, Zhengqing thought as he sighed.
Later, he
called Yufei, ‘Manager Qin, if you want me to help you talk to President Qin
about this matter, I can still help.’
‘No need.’
Yufei said angrily and she hung up the phone.
Zhengqing
looked at the handset for a short time, and then calmly put it back in place.
Good. If she didn’t want his help, that was all well and good.
The rest of
the day went smoothly. The next day, Friday, Huizhu was due to return.
She called
Zhengqing about meeting for a meal on Sunday. Zhengqing agreed. The same as last time, he’d choose
the place to eat. Huizhu certainly did not express an opinion, but she was also
thoughtful, she said he did not need to pick her up, she would drive herself.
The two agreed.
Zhengqing’s
mind flashed to several places to eat. He remembered someone criticise his
choices as expensive and not delicious, and the atmosphere is not suitable for
dating and so on. So he decided to take the time to go online to find a
restaurant suitable for dating.
But
Zhengqing was serious so he did not use company time to do his research. At
night, while he ate his dinner, he sat in his study and tried to find a
restaurant.
He was on a
famous restaurant’s website reading reviews when he came across an ID, Tingting
Yu Li 413. The comment was written a long time ago. He clicked on the ID and it
led to a blog home page. It was a very active blog, there were many restaurant
reviews. He didn’t even need to look at others, just by looking through the blog;
he could find a nice place to eat.
Zhengqing
found the blogger very entertaining as he read through their reviews, while
most people wrote one or two sentences, this blogger reviewed from décor to
dishes to the service and the prices. She usually went to the restaurants twice
and made note of it, but some restaurants she did not visit more than twice. At
the end of each review was a one sentence cla.s.sification comment: Suitable for
dating. Suitable for business talks. Suitable for flattering. Suitable for
loading. Suitable for family dinner. Suitable for friends. Suitable for meeting
with the fool. Suitable for breaking up. Suitable for anything.
Zhengqing
laughed. He had an inkling that Tingting
Yu Li 413 was Yin Ting.
He felt it
might be necessary to consult directly with the reviewer about where to go on
Sunday, so he called Yin Ting.
❀ Chapter 10...