A small candy

Chapter 21 I'll Be Your Boyfriend
Jian Ling arrived at the 48th floor with ease. When she came out of the elevator, she saw Minglang standing at the door of the president's office. He stood as straight as a door god and looked at her with a smile.

"Miss Jian, there's no need to knock. Just go in. Mr. Cheng is inside." Minglang helped her open the door, with a hint of deep meaning in his eyes.

Jian Ling couldn't see what the deep meaning in his eyes meant, but it wasn't hard to guess that seeing her coming to the president's office again and again, he was probably imagining something was going on between her and Cheng Zhixu.

Then he thought wrong.

Jian Ling said "thank you" without emotion, pursed her lips, and walked into the office. Minglang thoughtfully closed the door for her.

It was no different from the last time he came here. Cheng Zhixu was still sitting behind the desk, his features clear and handsome, his posture elegant and dignified. He was bathed in a thin layer of light, his whole body coated with a layer of light and warmth. She knew that he only looked warm, but in reality, he was not easy to approach.

Just like now, even though they were in the same office, Jian Ling felt that there was a huge gap between her and him that was difficult to cross.

While he wasn't looking up at her, Jian Ling rubbed her eyes, exhaled silently, and tried to make her voice sound normal: "Mr. Cheng, are you looking for me?"

Cheng Zhixu paused in turning the pages, then raised his head from the pile of documents and looked at Jian Ling, who was three meters away from him: "Come here."

Jian Ling had no choice but to obey the commanding tone, so she hesitated forward and stopped one meter away from the desk.

Jian Ling thought to herself that she was not deaf, and she could hear clearly what he said from where she was standing.

But Cheng Zhixu wasn't satisfied. He bent his knuckles slightly and tapped the tabletop, making a crisp sound. He stared at her intently, "Come closer."

Jian Ling slowly inched forward like a tortoise, until her body was only a hand's length away from the desk. Was that close enough? Any closer and she'd be stepping on the desk!

Cheng Zhixu seemed satisfied. He turned sideways and took something out of the drawer, placed it on the table and pushed it towards her: "Is this your masterpiece?"

Jian Ling took a quick look and felt as if someone had grabbed her by the back of the neck, with goosebumps covering her skin.

It was a blue card with a blessing message written on it and a two-letter signature. If she guessed correctly, it was the card that was hidden in the bouquet of roses.

When placing the order, she only told the merchant to write some blessing words. She did not check what was written specifically. Fortunately, there were no ambiguous words such as "grow old together", "stay together for a lifetime", or "a happy marriage for a hundred years".

Cheng Zhixu raised his eyebrows, a faint smile hidden between his brows: "What are you daydreaming about? Don't tell me this wasn't you who did it?"

I really have to tell you, this wasn't me.

Jian Ling swallowed. What had Dai Wangchu said? Unless it clearly said "Jian Ling," he would deny it. She shook her head like a rattle, "I'm not, I didn't, don't talk nonsense!"

She was so anxious to clear herself that she shouted so loudly and with such intensity that Cheng Zhixu was stunned.

After she finished shouting, Jian Ling realized that she had been acting too abnormally, and that she was trying to cover up something. So, she calmed down a bit and said calmly, "It's not me. I don't know what this is."

In order to appear innocent, she blinked blankly after she finished speaking, playing the role of an innocent little white rabbit.

Cheng Zhixu obviously didn't believe it, and said with a half-smile: "JL, isn't it the first letter of the two characters 'Jian Ling'?"

He had guessed the flowers were from Jian Ling the moment he saw the card last night. He had called her over today because he wanted to ask her face to face and find out why she did this. If she told him, he would definitely give her a satisfactory answer.

But now she was trying to avoid him as much as possible and insisted that it was not given by her, so he didn't understand what she was thinking.

It can't be because of shyness, right?
Jian Ling picked up the card, was silent for a moment, and then seriously analyzed it for him: "Look, JL could also be the abbreviation of 'Manager'. Maybe it's the manager of a department expressing good wishes to you."

Cheng Zhixu: “…”

He wanted to know, which manager was so fearless as to give him red roses? Did he not want to work in the company anymore?

Seeing that he looked confused, Jian Ling continued, "How could you have thought that it was me who gave it to you? I have no reason to do so."

This time she showed no fear, and her face was calm and sincere.

Sure enough, if you tell lies too many times, even you will be fooled.

Cheng Zhixu stared at her with deep eyes for a long while. Unable to cope with her flat denial, he nodded and looked away: "Okay, I misunderstood."

For some reason, Jian Ling felt like he seemed a little lost. This realization made her heart race, and she kept telling herself it must be her imagination. How could Cheng Zhixu show such emotion? She thought, girls who have been heartbroken are always good at deceiving themselves, like to interpret the other person's emotional changes as related to themselves.

"If there's nothing else, I'll leave first." Jian Ling pointed outside the door. She felt a lump in her throat when she thought that Manager Yuan would want to talk to her later.

Before Cheng Zhixu could say anything, the phone on the table rang.

When Jian Ling heard the ringing of her cell phone, she subconsciously glanced at the screen. Thanks to the fact that she was standing relatively close to the desk, she could see the three words "Shen Qinghe" on the caller ID by lowering her eyes slightly.

It doesn't take much thought to know that this is a girl's name.

It must be the girl she saw yesterday, the one he...likes.

Jian Ling's mood, which had been calming down all night, collapsed in an instant. It was at that moment that she realized that when people are extremely sad, they will experience physiological heart pain. She knew very well that she had no heart disease, but she could feel waves of dull pain spreading from her heart.

People are really strange creatures. When they are sad, their hearts ache, their heads hurt, and their whole bodies feel uncomfortable. She was a little distracted, thinking about some unfounded theories.

"I go first."

This time, without waiting for Cheng Zhixu's consent, Jian Ling turned around and left the office.

This should be the last time she sees Cheng Zhixu. They are not very close to begin with, so there seems to be no need to say goodbye specifically.

-

After returning to the planning department, Jian Ling was called to the office by Yuan Xiao again, causing her colleagues to look into the office frequently.

The glass wall near the office was transparent, allowing everyone to see Yuan Xiao and Jian Ling, one sitting and one standing, talking to each other. Jian Ling was in a low mood, with her head down and silent, while Yuan Xiao chattered on.

Colleagues were talking a lot.

"What's going on?" "I guess it's because Jian Ling missed the morning meeting today, and Manager Yuan is unhappy and scolded her."

"Jian Ling is indeed a bit willful. She's been late several times this month. I'm afraid she won't pass the final assessment of her internship. It's quite a shame. She has a lot of ideas in her head and is very suitable for the planning department."

"I'm afraid Director Yuan's scolding of her was just for show. I bet she can't leave."

"You're asking for death! How dare you speak ill of your supervisor behind his back..."

In the office, no matter what Yuan Xiao said, Jian Ling was determined to leave. Finally, he shook his head and said helplessly, "It's up to you. I've said everything I need to say. You can handle the rest."

Jian Ling walked out of the office with her head down, a low pressure lingering around her. As soon as she sat back down at her desk, Dai Wangchu beside her asked anxiously, "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing, I want to quit."

"what?"

"Forget it, let's not talk about it for now."

Jian Ling didn't say anything else, hurrying to finish the remaining work. She didn't want to add to the workload for others by leaving so suddenly, so she wanted to complete her own tasks before leaving. Unfortunately, her current work wouldn't be finished for another two or three days, so she told herself to just hold on a little longer.

She spent the whole afternoon busy and stayed overtime for two hours in the evening. It was already nine o'clock when she got home. Jian Ling was so tired that she had difficulty even blinking.

In the living room, her aunt asked her if she wanted to have some midnight snack, but she shook her head and refused.

The wind blew, the branches outside the window swayed, and the house was quiet.

Jian Ling dragged her feet upstairs, returned to her room, took a bath and lay on the bed. Thinking of some unfinished business, she got up and carried her laptop to the bed.

Facing the lit computer screen, she vaguely recalled the time she had been clutching a notebook and writing her resume. It seemed only a short time ago. She was so confident then, she had never imagined she would have to write her resignation letter so soon.

However, Jian Ling had never written a resignation letter before, and her fingers fell on the keyboard, not knowing how to start.

She sighed helplessly, searched for a resignation letter template online, and copied it. When she came to the part about the reason for resignation, she looked up and was stunned.

How should she write her reason for resigning? She couldn't just say, "I quit because I couldn't woo Cheng Zhixu." She also didn't want to say she had a health problem. In the end, she would have to make up a story.

Jian Ling's mind was slow and she couldn't come up with a good reason, so she picked up her phone to play with it for a while before thinking about it. She accidentally saw the circle of friends that Cheng Zhixu posted late at night.

Isn’t that... the roses she gave him?
Jian Ling bit her finger and clicked on the picture with the hand holding her phone. Yes, the picture was of that bouquet of gorgeous red roses. Even after a day and a night, they were still in full bloom, placed in a clear glass vase with a gold rim, the water covering two-thirds of the flower stems.

I can smell the refreshing floral fragrance even through the screen.

I don’t know who Cheng Zhixu was thinking of when he saw the flowers, but it was definitely not her. She denied in front of him during the day that she was the one who sent the flowers.

Not knowing what nerve was touched, Jian Ling suddenly broke down and burst into tears, covering her face with her hands and burying herself in the quilt. The sadness came suddenly and violently. She cried until she was out of breath, but she didn't dare to make any loud noise. She could only bite her lips and whimper like a little animal.

Tears rolled down like a flood, sliding across the corners of her eyes, wetting her hair, and finally falling on the pillow, leaving a large wet mark.

Jian Ling couldn't remember the last time she cried like this. Perhaps it had never happened before, which was why the feeling was so strange and intense.

Her shoulders trembled until she was tired of crying and could no longer shed tears. Only then did her emotional breakdown slowly subside. She reached out and touched the pillow, and found that most of it was wet.

Jian Ling's eyes were blurred with tears. She slowly sat up and sniffed. She took a tissue to wipe her tears, threw the wet pillow aside, replaced it with a new one, picked up the notebook again and wrote her resignation letter in one go.

The cell phone rang suddenly. In the silent room, when Jian Ling's mood had just calmed down and she had just finished typing the reason for her resignation, it was like a sudden thunderclap that scared her.

Jian Ling turned on the screen and realized she had been crying for too long. The sudden brightness of the screen was a bit too much for her eyes. She covered her eyes and waited for a while before checking the message.

Cheng Zhixu: "I asked my assistant to look up the order number for Xiyuan Flower Shop and called them to inquire. Guess what I found out?"

Jian Ling's heart skipped a beat.

Xiyuan Flower Shop was the name of the shop where she ordered flowers yesterday. The introduction also said that the origin of the shop name was "cherish fate", and she thought it had a good meaning at the time.

This time there is really nothing to hide.

Since Cheng Zhixu checked the flower shop and sent a message to ask her, it was obvious that he already knew that the flowers were sent by her!
Jian Ling had no way out, so she had no choice but to move forward. She took a deep breath and said, "Okay, I admit, I gave you the roses, but I didn't mean any other things. I simply wanted to express my gratitude."

Cheng Zhixu snorted: "Sending red roses as a token of gratitude?"

Jian Ling knew he wasn't so easy to fool, so she went all out, "I didn't lie to you. I just wanted to express my gratitude." At this point, she couldn't hide it any longer. "I don't plan to continue working at your company. Although I told my uncle from the beginning not to ask you to give me special care, I think given his personality, he must have said something to you, which is why you treat me a little differently. I know that's the case. Thank you for your care, Cheng Zhixu."

Cheng Zhixu frowned. What was she talking about?
Weren't we just talking about roses? Why are you suddenly quitting?
Cheng Zhixu was confused, but deep down he felt anxious. He asked a series of questions, "Why do you want to resign? Is the company's treatment bad? Are your relationships with colleagues not harmonious? Indeed, your uncle asked me to take care of you, so I can't explain your behavior to him."

Jian Ling curled the corners of her lips and smiled faintly.

She knew it was like this. He was so nice to her just for her uncle's sake.

But Cheng Zhixu's attitude still made her a little uneasy. He asked the reason so anxiously, as if he didn't want her to resign.

Jian Ling explained in a panic: "Nothing, I'm just too busy with work and don't have time for blind dates."

The real reason cannot be told, and she is unwilling to disclose it due to health reasons, so she can only make up a reason. Anyway, she wants to resign, so the reason is not important.

Blind date, what a great blind date.

Cheng Zhixu nodded, thinking he could remain calm, just like the last time he saw her on a blind date with another man in the restaurant, and how he had calmly brushed off Ye Guizhou's probing gaze. In reality, he was genuinely panicking.

Cheng Zhixu didn't want to play cat and mouse with her anymore, so he made it clear directly.

Cheng Zhixu: "Don't you just want to have a boyfriend? Why bother with a blind date? What do you think of me? If I become your boyfriend, can you not quit your job?"

　Cheng Fox confessed his love!!!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)