187 Cheeky answers

To her surprise, the media personnel asked her back on the podium once the Q&A was over with the other executives. Apparently, they had enjoyed the cheeky way in which she had answered. This was the first time that someone from Earthly Matters had offered to interact with media since the time of its inception.

Since they weren't a listed company, their financial records were not exposed in the open. But there was a buzz in the business world that the company's net worth was higher than their estimation. Due to the reclusive nature of Ying Hui and tight lipped employees, not much was known about the company. All there existed, was speculation. So, they didn't want to let go of the rare opportunity today.

Jia Li answered, fielded and deflected the queries thrown her way. Once her initial nervousness dissipated, she started to enjoy herself. She was careful not to give away anything specific regarding the company's financials but dropped enough vague remarks to keep the curiosity satiated and hunger for more, at the same time. She was convinced that most of the journalists now sported a respect for the company's policies and values, which she had spoken about extensively and eloquently. Subconsciously, she had used a lot of stuff from Hui's handbook which she had read weeks ago.

Eric obviously had no clue about it. He thumped her back vigorously once they were out of the prying eyes of everyone.

"You were bl**dy good. I didn't know that you spoke so well. As an alternate career choice, you can very well be the campaign manager for any of the elective representatives. I loved your performance up there today," he gushed.

Jia Li waited nervously for Ying Hui to react in some sort of way.

But all he said was, "it is not good practice to rummage through someone's private stuff without their permission. It is called snooping,"

Her face flooded with colour at his words. She immediately understood that he was referring to his diary.

She lowered her eyes and bowed her head slightly in apology.

"I had found it while I was looking for a book to read. When I opened it, it was plain curiosity but then I was literally pulled in by the fantastic thoughts and ideas which had been captured there. Before I knew, I had finished reading it. But that is no excuse for opening it in the first place without your permission. I am terribly sorry," she said contritely.

Hui was taken aback at her candour. After she had handled the initial crisis with that irritating journalist in an effective and no-fuss manner, he was pretty satisfied with her performance. When she had started interacting with the entire media group at length, he hadn't paid much attention in the beginning because he knew that it was a trite PR exercise. But when familiar phrases started coming out of her mouth, he had started listening in. To his amazement, she was talking about his ideas but had managed to present them in such a way that people were not only listening but nodding along.

When he had tried to present the same thoughts to few people from his industry some years ago, they had been met with boredom or indifference. The cynic in him questioned whether the media personnel were paying attention to her because of her good looks or were they genuinely able to identify the real intention behind the words. As the interaction continued, he had to concede that her way of presenting facts and thoughts, was mesmerising.

She weaved in the right amount of humour to stop the narrative from being boring and had an amazing stage presence. It was as if each fibre of her face and hands was involved in the act. He knew that he should be applauding her for putting up a good show but a part of him resented her for using his ideas for the same, without his permission. Or was it that the genius in him was jealous of her oratory skills?

For a long time now, Ying Hui had been aware that he lacked even the basic most social graces but that hadn't bothered him much till date. He struggled to analyse his reaction to this today but without much success. Having been applauded and validated at various prestigious platforms, he couldn't comprehend as to why was he feeling cheated.

It was as if she had stolen his child and claimed it as her own!

Yes! That was it. He was just upset that she had used his ideas without his permission. Nothing else. He had walked up to her post the conference and overheard Eric doling out compliments generously. That did nothing to improve his mood.

So he told her exactly what he thought of her actions.