A small candy

Chapter 51 Calling me husband in front of the whole company
When Jian Ling woke up, dazzling sunlight shone in through the half-closed curtains. A slanting white ray fell on the end of the bed, reminding her that it was already late.

Suddenly, there was a "ding" in her mind, and she remembered something. She hurriedly picked up the mobile phone on the bedside table to check the time. She was going to be late for work!
"No need to look, take a rest today." A familiar male voice sounded in the room, accompanied by the sound of swallowing water.

Jian Ling was stunned. She leaned her elbows on the bed and half-raised her body, looking at the man who was leaning leisurely against the door frame. It was rare to see him wearing clothes with bright colors. She was stunned for a moment and forgot what she was going to say.

Cheng Zhixu was wearing a gray-green pullover, light-colored trousers, and cotton slippers today. He held a slender hexagonal glass in his hand and took a sip of boiled water. His eyes lingered on her with a somewhat strange expression.

Jian Ling noticed that his gaze was too intense. She looked down and saw her exposed shoulders and chest. And below that... Her head buzzed and she quickly lay back down, pulling the quilt to wrap herself tightly. Only then did she realize that she was completely naked.

"Who took off my clothes?" Jian Ling asked before realizing that she had asked a nonsense question. It must have been Cheng Zhixu.

However, the answer was not what she expected. Cheng Zhixu walked to the bed in his slippers, put down the water cup, and looked at her cowardly appearance with amusement: "You took it off by yourself, don't you remember?"

Jian Ling glared: "Don't fool me! How can I possibly take off all my clothes by myself!"

"Oh, I forgot that you will lose your memory when you wake up drunk." Cheng Zhixu nodded seriously, looking at her sincerely, "I really didn't lie to you. You took off all your clothes and crawled into my arms, touching me everywhere with your hands, and also..." He paused, coughed lightly and didn't say anything else.

Jian Ling stared at him with disbelief. What else? He continued.

Cheng Zhixu changed the subject and lectured her with a stern face, "Why did you drink when you knew you couldn't hold your liquor?" He sat down beside the bed and couldn't help but flick her forehead. "Don't you have a good memory? I have to drag you in front of Ye Guizhou and let him teach you a lesson?"

Jian Ling clutched the quilt to cover the lower half of her face and said in a muffled voice, "I didn't drink."

"Oh, you didn't drink, were you possessed by evil spirits last night?" Cheng Zhixu snorted coldly.

"I really didn't drink." Jian Ling frowned and defended herself. "I knew I couldn't drink alcohol, so I deliberately took a glass of fruit and vegetable juice. Later, I don't know if I took someone else's by mistake or what, but I noticed something was wrong with the taste at the time. I didn't think too much about it. Who knew that after drinking it..."

Jian Ling stretched her arm out from under the quilt, raised three fingers, and said seriously, "I swear I'm not lying."

Cheng Zhixu believed her words unconditionally, but he was used to thinking deeply about things and realized that there must be other hidden secrets, so he put it aside for the time being.

"Okay, let's put this matter behind us." Cheng Zhixu touched her forehead, "Get up and have breakfast. It's already this late and you're still lying in bed."

Knowing that she didn't have to go to work today, Jian Ling's laziness kicked in. She twisted her body and felt the warm quilt sucking her tightly. She said lazily, "I don't want to get up. I'll sleep a little longer."

Cheng Zhixu narrowed his eyes, lowered his upper body, and supported his hands on either side of her body. He stared at her dangerously, and deliberately dragged out his tone, with a hint of threat: "Don't want to get up? Fine, then don't get up."

He was about to get on the bed, and Jian Ling finally understood what he meant. She immediately screamed, "Stop it, I'm going to scream!"

"What's your name?" Cheng Zhixu's face was getting closer and closer to her. She felt an inexplicable sense of oppression. He chuckled softly, his voice deep, "I still haven't settled the score with you for what happened last night. You made a fuss until most of the night and I couldn't sleep. Now's the perfect time to make it up to you."

Jian Ling screamed and dodged, kicking the blanket aside to expose more skin. Cheng Zhixu had originally just wanted to tease her, but now he had ulterior motives.

Jian Ling had no more strength to struggle after struggling enough, and her hands slumped over his shoulders, looking more like she was hugging him rather than pushing him away. The two of them kissed unconsciously, squeezing the air out of each other's chests.

After a long time, Cheng Zhixu suddenly turned his face away, stood up hurriedly and tidied himself up, his voice tense: "Hurry up and get up, I'll go downstairs and heat up breakfast for you." After that, he rushed out of the room, leaving behind a fleeing back.

Jian Ling lay panting on the bed, the back of her hand covering her eyelids. She couldn't tell whether she felt lost or something else when he left, but she hadn't considered refusing. Realizing this, Jian Ling's cheeks felt as if they were on fire. She removed her hand from her eyes and placed it against her cheek to cool herself down.

After dawdling for a while, Jian Ling got dressed, went to the bathroom, and then went downstairs to eat the breakfast Cheng Zhixu had personally warmed up. Under the table, her legs were crossed, her slippers had fallen off, and she was idly dangling her feet while playing with her phone.

When she saw the message in the work group, she choked on the soy milk as it just slid down her throat.

"Cough cough cough-"

Cheng Zhixu had already finished breakfast and was sitting next to her watching a tablet. When he heard the noise, he looked up, took out two tissues and handed them to her. Seeing that her hands were busy, he leaned over and wiped the soy milk from the corner of her mouth.

Colleague 1: "To be honest, this bombshell kept me awake for half the night."

Colleague 2: "I also have insomnia. I'm lying in bed trying to recall. Have I ever said anything harsh to Jian Ling before? If I did, I'd like to apologize here. I'm sorry."

Colleague 3: "I'm a little overwhelmed when I think about being in the same group with the future president's wife!"

Colleague 4: "Tell me, does Old Yuan know that Jian Ling is Mr. Cheng's girlfriend?"

Colleague 5: "I guess he doesn't know that Jian Ling was often late during that period due to health reasons. Didn't Old Yuan call her into the office and scold her?"

Colleague 6: "That makes sense. I wonder what Lao Yuan is feeling right now."

Jian Ling slowly put down the soy milk, mechanically took a bite of the omelet, and turned to Cheng Zhixu.

After handing her the tissue, Cheng Zhixu returned to looking at his tablet, his fingers tapping the input keys non-stop. He noticed the burning gaze she gave him from the corner of his eye. He looked up at her again and said, "You look so distraught. Are you blaming me for not continuing? We don't have that at home."

Jian Ling: “…”

Jian Ling threw a ball of paper at him and rolled her eyes. "That's not serious! Who wants to tell him that?"

"Did anyone at the company know about our relationship?" Jian Ling asked, feeling the question was too bizarre. She and Cheng Zhixu had clearly kept it a secret, so where had the news leaked from? Minglang or Dai Wangchu? The two people who knew about it wouldn't say anything.

Cheng Zhixu raised his eyebrows, thinking of the scene last night, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly: "Yeah."

Jian Ling exaggeratedly covered her chest, pretending to be having a myocardial infarction, took a few deep breaths, and shouted, "How did they know?!"

Cheng Zhixu was amused by her pretentious behavior. He put down the tablet in his hand and made up a story seriously: "You got drunk at the annual meeting last night and called me husband in front of everyone in the company."

Jian Ling: “???!!!”

This is a lie. How could it be possible? If he said he was drunk and crazy, she would believe it. Calling him husband? Absolutely impossible.

Under her inquiring gaze, Cheng Zhixu continued to nod calmly, indicating that he was not making up the story.

Jian Ling fell headfirst onto the dining table, dead.

-

The next morning, Jian Ling went to work. Holding her bag, she glanced around like a thief before walking into the company lobby with her head held high. As expected, she was met with a wave of stares from the receptionist on the first floor, and then in the elevator, she was met with scrutiny from staff from various departments. Some even wanted to say hello, but she didn't know how to address her, so she just smiled.

Jian Ling was so embarrassed that she wanted to leave the elevator, but she couldn't. She forced herself to smile back at the other person.

After going through many "hardships", she finally arrived at the planning department's office on the 26th floor. Before she could even breathe, all her colleagues stood up at once, with different expressions on their faces, and watched her blatantly.

In this situation, Jian Ling felt like a gorilla, and the only thing missing was asking them for the entrance fee.

After a while, Jian Ling forced a helpless smile: "Good morning, everyone. Have you eaten?"

Qiu Shuang pulled out a few sheets of A4 paper from the table, rolled them up into a tube, and held them over. "Let me ask you, what's it like to be in a relationship with Mr. Cheng? How long have you been dating? When do you plan to get married? Will you continue to work in our planning department after you get married?"

Questions came one after another, leaving Jian Ling overwhelmed. She didn't know where to begin answering, so she could only continue to smile awkwardly. The person who saved her was her supervisor, Yuan Xiao. With his arrival, everyone in the office quieted down and returned to their workstations.

Yuan Xiao looked at Jian Ling deeply, his mood becoming even more complicated. He had finally accepted that Jian Ling's relatives were friends with Mr. Cheng, but then he was told that she was Mr. Cheng's girlfriend. He had to prepare himself mentally again.

It was work time, and everyone had tasks on hand, so there was no time for gossip. Suddenly, Lin Xiaoran exclaimed, "What's going on? Fan Yijun isn't here?"

Hearing the noise, several colleagues looked up at Fan Yijun's workstation, but it was empty. Fan Yijun prided himself on being a role model, never being late, which made people think of something.

Most of the previous "black material" about Jian Ling came from Fan Yijun's mouth, and she spoke with details and evidence. It was because of what happened the night before that she was so scared that she didn't dare to come.

At ten o'clock in the morning, Fan Yijun arrived late, looking haggard, with dark circles under her eyes that couldn't be concealed even with concealer. Ignoring everyone's scrutinizing gazes, she straightened her back and went straight to her supervisor's office with a blank expression. She emerged ten minutes later, but instead of returning to her workstation, she went upstairs to the Administration and Human Resources Department. Then, she returned to the Planning Department, carrying a small black cardboard box and began to pack her personal belongings from her desk.

Cheng Zhixu found out that Jian Ling's drunkenness at the annual meeting was related to her. The photos captured by the surveillance camera were sent to her email, and no other words were mentioned. She herself could not bear the pressure and handed in her resignation.

Rather than waiting to be bullied in the future, it would be better for her to resign voluntarily. This is what Fan Yijun thought.

Jian Ling frowned as she watched Fan Yijun leave without a word. The other colleagues looked at Fan Yijun, then at Jian Ling, shrinking their necks as if she were some untouchable taboo.

"I didn't intend to cause trouble for her. She wanted to leave on her own initiative. I really don't understand." Jian Ling did not hide her feelings and complained.

Dai Wangchu patted her shoulder to comfort her and said indifferently, "It's better for her to leave. She's always making trouble. If you get along with someone like her, you'll be exhausted sooner or later."

Jian Ling was depressed all morning. At noon, she hit the enter key on the computer, stretched, and got up to eat.

Since her relationship with Cheng Zhixu was public, she didn't need to hide it anymore. She could wait until everyone left before going up. This time, under the gaze of her colleagues, she pressed the elevator up button.

Entering the CEO's office, Jian Ling slumped her shoulders and told Cheng Zhixu about Fan Yijun's resignation. Her tone was tinged with dissatisfaction: "Her departure made it seem as if I had forced her out. My colleagues looked at me differently. I explained, but I don't know if it helped."

She held her cheeks in distress, and her face wrinkled into a bitter bun.

Cheng Zhixu picked up a piece of food for her and said in a steady voice, "She resigned voluntarily, which saved me a lot of trouble." Seeing Jian Ling stunned, he said slowly, "I had someone check the surveillance footage. She was the one who replaced your drink at the annual meeting when no one was paying attention."

Jian Ling's eyes widened and she shouted, "What hatred and grudge is this?"

"Don't worry about it. Just eat your meal. We'll be on holiday in a few days, so I won't even have the chance to eat with you." Cheng Zhixu waved his chopsticks in front of her, interrupting her thoughts. "I heard you're going back to Shanghai for the New Year?"

As for who told it, it was of course Ye Guizhou.

Jian Ling's grandparents passed away early. During the Spring Festival or other reunion festivals, the family would go to the Ye family's old house in Shanghai to celebrate the festival with Mr. Ye, which meant that they would not see each other for several days.

Jian Ling hummed, and thought of another thing. Cheng Zhixu's birthday was on February 2th, which happened to be the fourth day of the first lunar month. At that time, she was still at her grandfather's house and could not celebrate his birthday with him.

-

After working for over a week, we officially had our holiday on the afternoon of February 2th. Everyone had booked their plane and high-speed rail tickets more than half a month in advance, and after finishing work, they rushed back to their hometowns. The rest planned to stay in their hometowns for the New Year.

Jian Ling came out of the company and sat in the back seat of a taxi. Looking out the window at the dim sky, she called Ye Xianxin, "Mom, I'll go back and meet you tomorrow. I remember the 8:30 flight this morning."

Ye Xianxin was a little worried that she would have to rush to the airport alone, and asked in confusion, "Why do you want to be alone? Why don't you come back? We can leave together tomorrow morning, and I'll feel at ease."

"Mom, I just..." Jian Ling stammered.

Jian Zumao, who was sitting next to Ye Xianxin, heard the conversation between mother and daughter, shook the newspaper in his hand, and chuckled, "Girls can't be kept at home when they grow up. No need to ask, Lingling must want to see her boyfriend before leaving. We'll be apart for several days."

Ye Xian was stunned. Maybe she subconsciously thought that Jian Ling was still the little baby who needed care, and always forgot that she had a boyfriend.

"Well, be careful." Ye Xianxin took a step back, considered her words, and added, "Well, protect yourself."

Jian Ling thought about what she was going to do, coughed, and responded casually, but her face felt a little hot.

After ending the call, the taxi drove to Cheng Zhixu's residential area.

Cheng Zhixu thought she would be at Jian's house tonight, so he did not return to the apartment where they usually lived. Instead, he went to another residence and planned to return to the Cheng family's old house tomorrow morning to spend the New Year with his parents.

When he lived alone, he usually didn't like to cook. While the nanny was busy in the kitchen, he would sit on a high stool in the living room, his laptop on a silver stand on the table. He leaned his elbows on the bar, staring intently at the screen, tackling some leftover work. This was why he didn't just go back to the old house; he didn't want to bring his work back with him.

After reading two articles, Cheng Zhixu was about to organize them when the doorbell rang.

The kitchen door was closed, and the range hood was humming loudly, so the nanny didn't hear it. Cheng Zhixu looked away, stepped off the high stool with his long legs, walked to the entrance, and looked at the video doorbell display.

Jian Ling's face appeared on the screen. She was breathing heavily, tilting her head and saying with a smile, "Cheng Zhixu, open the door for me! I'm freezing!"

Cheng Zhixu's expression froze for a moment, and before he knew it, he unlocked the door, opened it, and waited at the door.

A moment later, Jian Ling appeared in front of him, wearing a long white down jacket and a bright red scarf. She rushed over and hung herself on him: "I've thought about it carefully, and I still want to celebrate your birthday in advance!"

　Cheng Zhixu: My wife is so sweet and caring.
　　Wake up, she’s still your wife.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)