A small candy

Chapter 27 Do I Have the Final Say on Lifelong Matters?
Cheng Zhixu really wanted to crack open Jian Ling's head and see what was inside. What was she thinking? They were originally in a normal relationship, but she was hiding from him like this. Did she ever consider that if they were discovered, others would suspect that he was having an affair with a female employee?

"Why are you hiding?" Cheng Zhixu asked with gritted teeth.

Jian Ling pointed at the office door and lowered her voice, fearing that the person outside would hear her: "The person outside is my supervisor, Yuan Xiao!"

Cheng Zhixu suppressed his temper and curled his lips: "So?"

Jian Ling gestured with her hands, her words becoming illogical: "What if I, no, he sees me in your office, then I will..."

Before she could finish her words, Cheng Zhixu seemed to be deliberately opposing her. His original intention was to ask the people outside to leave, but he changed his mind and said, "Come in."

The nerves in Jian Ling's brain tightened and she felt like jumping up. She twisted her body and struggled a few times, but couldn't break free from the big hand that was strangling her neck.

At this moment, the office door was pushed open, and Yuan Xiao's voice came: "Mr. Cheng, I'm really sorry to interrupt your meal time. This is what you need next week after the correction..."

Yuan Xiao's last words were caught in his throat, turning into a frightened gasp. He held the document in his hand, staring blankly at the two people in the office.

He knew Mr. Cheng, and the other person was Jian Ling, whom he also knew, but he didn't recognize them when they stood together in such an intimate posture.

Jian Ling turned around a little late, with her back to Yuan Xiao, just like when she was in school and didn't want to be called on by the teacher to answer a question. She silently said to herself, "You can't see me, you can't see me."

Cheng Zhixu grabbed her collar and took her aside, saying calmly, "You've seen it all, stop hiding."

Yuan Xiao couldn't process what he saw and stood there for a long time. Cheng Zhixu turned and looked at him. "Give me the documents. I'll sign them and let Jian Ling take them back."

Yuan Xiao was stunned for a few seconds before he remembered that he hadn't responded. He hurriedly said, "Oh, okay, okay..."

He was so distracted that he said "yes" so many times he didn't even notice. His mind was full of questions. Was Jian Ling Cheng Zhixu's girlfriend? Or some other relative? What was her purpose in lurking in the planning department? Had he ever done anything wrong in front of Jian Ling?

Cheng Zhixu raised his chin slightly, indicating that he could leave. Yuan Xiao pulled up the corners of his mouth, revealing a smile that was uglier than crying. He walked while thinking, and when he reached the door, Mr. Cheng called him again. He looked over respectfully: "Mr. Cheng, go ahead."

"Please keep it a secret." Cheng Zhixu said simply and directly.

Yuan Xiao nodded repeatedly and said with a smile, "I understand, don't worry."

Jian Ling saw the same expression on her supervisor's face that Minglang had seen that morning, and she felt a little suffocated. After the door closed, she looked at Cheng Zhixu with a frown on her face: "How can I face my supervisor in the future if you do this?"

Cheng Zhixu pulled her to sit at the dining table and said without any psychological burden, "Just face it as you should."

Seeing that she was still pouting, he picked up a piece of pork ribs and put it in her bowl. After thinking carefully, he said something that could barely be considered comforting: "To be honest, the person who should worry about this problem is Yuan Xiao. He is the one who doesn't know how to face you."

As expected, Jian Ling choked again at his words: "...I won't come to your office for lunch anymore." Who knew if the same situation would happen again? This morning alone, two people already knew about their "affair." The chances of it being exposed were too high.

"What did you say?" Cheng Zhixu asked back with a frown.

"I said, I don't want to eat with you anymore." Jian Ling raised her voice a little and angrily took the ribs he had just given her into her mouth.

"Is your food any better than mine?" Cheng Zhixu raised his chopsticks and nodded at her, in a teaching tone, "Don't be so ungrateful."

Jian Ling was chewing on the secret-made spareribs and couldn't say a bad word.

Cheng Zhixu took a few bites of the meal, and when she didn't say anything, he raised his eyebrows and said nonchalantly, "I'm planning to have Minglang make a menu based on your tastes, to ensure that you won't have the same dish twice in a month. If you don't like that, forget it, and don't let him prepare it."

Jian Ling spat the bone into the napkin, suppressed the joy in her heart, and said calmly on the surface: "You said it, so I will reluctantly accompany you for lunch."

Cheng Zhixu let out a muffled laugh, but stopped it in time. He pretended to clear his throat and said seriously, "Don't force yourself."

"Cheng Zhixu, will you kill me if you let me?" Jian Ling swallowed the air and said angrily, "I think you are the one who doesn't cherish what you have! Uncle Cheng is several years older than me."

Cheng Zhixu felt as if his lungs were poked, and he smacked her head with his hand, "What did you call me?"

"You and my uncle are good friends, so we're uncles, aren't we?" Jian Ling rubbed his head and decisively counterattacked, "Did I say anything wrong?"

Cheng Zhixu had a blank expression on his face: "...No."

Instead of calling it “round and smooth pig”, it would be better to call it “sharp teeth and sharp mouth”.

Jian Ling ate for a while and found that the person opposite her had been silent. She raised her eyes and glanced at him. He had already finished eating and was looking at the revised document sent by Yuan Xiao.

"Are you angry?" She asked carefully, leaning over the table.

"I'm not that stingy." Cheng Zhixu didn't even raise his head, his eyes fixed on the words on the white paper, his emotions difficult to discern. "You're right. I'm not older than you in vain. I won't argue with you."

Jian Ling silently finished the remaining half bowl of rice and blinked a few times. The man across from her remained motionless, his face as calm as water. From her perspective, his features were sharply defined, revealing a serious and cold expression. She held her chin in her hand and stared at him for a long moment. He was absorbed in his documents, unresponsive to her gaze.

"Cheng Zhixu."

"Ok?"

"Are you really angry?"

"Did you tell me?" Cheng Zhixu raised his hand and pointed, "Give me the pen. It's on the desk."

Seeing that he was finally paying attention to her, Jian Ling went to get him a pen and handed it to him. Cheng Zhixu took it, pressed the corner of the folder, spread it on his lap, and signed the three characters in a flamboyant style. Then, he closed the folder and threw it on the dining table. The pen with the cap on also fell on the table and rolled twice. Jian Ling was watching the pen rolling away when he grabbed her hand, pulled her to sit on his lap, and put his arm around her waist. It was a familiar posture. He held her like this yesterday, like a child.

"Ye Guizhou said you've been mischievous and fearless since you were little. You even used Mr. Ye's inkstone to raise fish." Cheng Zhixu said with a smile, "Are you still afraid of me getting angry?"

The more Jian Ling listened, the stranger her expression became. "Did you talk about me? What else did my uncle say to you?"

Cheng Zhixu recalled what Ye Guizhou had said and said calmly, "Nothing."

"Those were all the mistakes I made when I was young and ignorant. I'm not like that anymore." Jian Ling felt embarrassed when people mentioned her childhood mishaps. Her relatives would tease her about them every holiday. No matter how thick-skinned she was, she couldn't stand being teased by someone she liked. "Let me make a deal. Can you please forget about it?"

Cheng Zhixu readily nodded in agreement. His cell phone vibrated at that moment. He took it and took a look. It was a WeChat message from Ms. Yu Zhijin, asking him when he could go back.

He didn't avoid Jian Ling. He swiped open the lock screen with one hand and entered the WeChat interface. His thumb typed a word in the dialog box: "Busy."

Yu Zhijin: "Busy, busy, busy, busy every day. I don't know when I will be able to take care of my lifelong affairs."

Jian Ling didn't want to see anyone's private parts, but Cheng Zhixu held her with one arm and half-raised his phone with the other, the screen right in front of her. With her good eyesight, she could see everything clearly by just lowering her eyelashes.

"Is this your mother?" She was a little unsure, as the note was just her name. She had guessed based on the other person's tone, and it was almost like Ms. Ye Xianxin's.

"Yeah." Cheng Zhixu opened Jian Ling's palm and put the phone in her hand.

Jian Ling held the phone, which felt like a hot potato, and tilted her head to look at him: "What do you mean?"

Cheng Zhixu leaned back in his chair, his hands resting on the edge of the table, tapping lightly and carelessly, looking somewhat lazy and languid. "Please reply for me."

"How...can I help you?" Jian Ling pointed at her nose, feeling that she was not up to the task.

Cheng Zhixu tapped the text Yu Zhijin had just sent him on his phone screen. "My mom asked me when I'm going to get married. Is that up to me?"

After hearing what he said, Jian Ling felt the phone in her hand getting even hotter, almost unable to hold it anymore. She shoved it to Cheng Zhixu and said, "You reply yourself, I don't want it." She turned her face away and scratched her brow, feeling embarrassed.

Who would think about marriage after just three days of dating? Cheng Zhixu is such a weirdo!
At this time, Yu Zhijin expressed her dissatisfaction again.

Yu Zhijin: "Where are you? Why don't you reply to my message?"

Yu Zhijin: "You're playing dumb when it comes to lifelong events. Are you my son or my enemy?"

Yu Zhijin: "I'm not saying anything bad about you, but when your dad was your age, you could already do math problems!"

Cheng Zhixu found time to reply: "I'm quite smart."

Jian Ling turned her gaze back and accidentally saw his reply. She couldn't help laughing and muttered, "Why are you so boastful?"

Cheng Zhixu didn't plan to continue chatting with Yu Zhijin on this topic, so he ended with a universal ending: "I have something to do now. I'll come back to see you and Dad when I have time."

Cheng Zhixu exited the chat with Yu Zhijin and was about to put his phone back on the table when Jian Ling startled and suddenly grabbed his arm: "Wait! What did you write to me?"

The last second, the cell phone flashed past her eyes, and Jian Ling saw a familiar avatar, but the note clearly did not say "Jian Ling", it looked like there were four words.

Cheng Zhixu wasn't paying attention when she snatched his phone away from him. He didn't have the nerve to fight with her for it, so he just let her look at it.

Jian Ling held the phone in both hands, her beautiful almond-shaped eyes widened. She pointed at the phone and screamed, "What do you mean by pig, round, jade, and smooth?!"

Cheng Zhixu suppressed his laughter, his face serious as if trying to explain something to someone: "It's exactly what you understand."

Jian Ling dropped her phone and got up from his lap, her hair standing on end with anger. "Stay by yourself, I'm leaving. Don't even think about asking me to forgive you."

Jian Ling turned and left. Cheng Zhixu didn't rush to chase her. He just called out to her when she was about to walk out the door, "Jian Ling, don't you want the documents anymore?"

Jian Ling really stopped.

Her fists clenched, she exhaled secretly, and silently repeated "Workers must be strong" and then "Workers cannot disobey their bosses". She suddenly turned around and rushed over, grabbing the documents on the table.

The first attempt failed, as Cheng Zhixu's hand held the other end of the document. He looked up at her, his handsome face filled with a smile. "A nickname for you."

Jian Ling grabbed his hand and said, "I don't want such a nickname!"

Cheng Zhixu didn't dwell on the nickname anymore and changed the subject: "To prevent you from digging out my secrets in the future, I've decided to tell you everything."

Jian Ling's calm face concealed a turbulent heart. She stood in front of Cheng Zhixu who was sitting on a chair. She was a head taller than him, so she had to look down at him.

From the way he spoke, she was really curious about what other secrets he was hiding from her.

　The old fox has many secrets. Lingling, get ready to face the storm...

　　Lingling: ...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)