CH 11.2

So, during the afternoon, Ning Qingqing began to prepare the materials for the handover, and continued to complete the previously unfinished contracts and submit them to her superior for approval.

After two busy days, Ning Qingqing could see the countdown getting closer and closer to her birthday, it was just three days later.

Ever since marriage was mentioned that day, she and Shen Zhiqian never brought up the topic again. They went to work together as usual, and if there was no business dinner, they would get off work together.

While Ning Qingqing would see the funny jokes posted by Gu Youchen every day before going to bed. Sometimes she would give a like or comment a few words; the two of them only interacted in their Moments.

But they never ran into each other again.

There was only one contract left in Ning Qingqing’s hands that needed to be revised. She had been busy all morning, and when it got close to noon, she went downstairs to buy a cup of coffee because she was feeling sleepy.

When she came back up, she exited the elevator, but she didn’t expect someone to walk into the elevator at the same time. That person’s speed was very fast and came crashing toward Ning Qingqing.

Ning Qingqing quickly backed away, but it was already too late. The coffee cup was knocked down to the floor and spilled all over, a lot of it even splashed onto the opposite person.

“Ah— ” the woman screeched. Right after, Ning Qingqing was pushed hard by the person, and her lower back slammed into the handrail inside the elevator, causing a burst of pain.

In front of her, Si Luoqing was wearing a brand’s custom piece, her makeup exquisite, but she seemed to have been burnt. The expression on her face looked a little distorted.

Kenny, who was beside her, supported her while shouting at Ning Qingqing with fire spitting from his eyes, “What’s the matter with you, don’t you look where you’re going?”

The commotion by the elevator here quickly attracted the attention of other colleagues on the floor, and they came over one after another.

Si Luoqing’s face already switched to a weeping expression, “It hurts so much… I came here today to shoot a promotional video with CEO Shen…”

At this moment, the hem of her skirt was a mess, and patches of skin on her bare leg were scorched red. Although there weren’t any blisters, since her skin was fair, the areas that had red marks were rather shocking.

Right then, Shen Yeyuan walked over: “What happened here?” The company’s promotional video was originally going to be shot with Shen Zhiqian and Si Luoqing, but Shen Zhiqian was unwilling, so Shen Yeyuan could only personally step up.

Seeing the mess on Si Luoqing, he couldn’t help ordering his assistant: “Take Miss Si for a change of clothes, then visit the hospital for treatment.”

“It’s alright, it’s only a little red, it’s no problem.” Si Luoqing tried to put on a strong expression, and told Shen Yeyuan, “Uncle Shen, I can continue the shoot, it’s just that this dress is dirty now. I need a moment to contact the brand to borrow another one.”

The surrounding people listened to how Si Luoqing addressed Shen Yeyuan, their gazes indecipherable.

It seemed like it was hard to say who would become the future lady boss.

“Then take a break, let me arrange for the dress.” After speaking, Shen Yeyuan’s eyes fell on Ning Qingqing.

He knew Ning Qingqing, after all, she was his own son’s girlfriend, even if he hadn’t formally introduced her, he still has a profound impression of her.

At this moment, Kenny who was on the side spoke, “President Shen, can our Shen Group employees go downstairs to buy a coffee during working hours?”1

He looked puzzled as if he was seriously inquiring.

After all, no one had ever told him that Ning Qingqing was Shen Zhiqian’s girlfriend. In his eyes, Ning Qingqing was just an ordinary legal department employee.

When Shen Yeyuan heard these words, he looked at the time and frowned slightly, “It is true that you cannot leave your post without authorization during company working hours.” 2

Kenny pushed on3 and looked at Ning Qingqing, “Miss Ning, it’s dangerous for you to walk around with such a hot coffee without looking! Fortunately, nothing serious happened, and Luoqing only hurt a bit of skin.”

With just one sentence, all the blame was completely placed on Ning Qingqing!

Everyone looked over; they all wanted to know how Shen Yeyuan would deal with this!

But at this moment, a man strode over, pushed aside the crowd, and checked on Ning Qingqing first. After confirming that she was not injured, he turned to Si Luoqing and said, “It is indeed our staff’s problem, I apologize on her behalf— —”

Ning Qingqing looked at Shen Zhiqian who had arrived in shock.

The place where she was hit on the lower back still hurt a lot, it was probably swollen. Strong grievances surged in her heart, and now all grievances that formed when he admitted her fault became gloom.

He didn’t even ask, just like everyone else, he assumed it was her fault!

Obviously, the one who rushed over without looking was Si Luoqing, and she was inside the elevator at that time, there was no way she could have avoided her!

Ning Qingqing looked directly into Shen Zhiqian’s eyes, and said word by word: “CEO Shen since this incident was caused by me, the one who needs to apologize is also me.”

Shen Zhiqian subconsciously frowned; he didn’t understand why she was still angry even after he apologized on her behalf.

Ning Qingqing had already turned her head to look at Si Luoqing: “Miss Si, I’m sorry.”

Si Luoqing smiled gently towards her: “It’s okay, it’s also because I wasn’t careful.”

Her complexion was still a little pale from the pain, yet she quickly smiled softly, which immediately made the people feel that she was noble and magnanimous.

“Alright now, since the clothes are dirty I’ll send someone to bring some over right away.” Shen Zhiqian didn’t like dealing with this kind of matter, but even more so he didn’t want others to make absurd conjectures about the current situation. 

He walked up to Ning Qingqing, lowered his head, and whispered in her ear to comfort her, “Qingqing, I’ll go upstairs to deal with this, you go back to the office and wait for me to go out for dinner together.”

After speaking, he turned to Kenny and said, “How about both of you come to the guest room upstairs with me? My friend will bring over a dress soon.”

The group of people left one after another.

The elevator was dirty, and an auntie came in with a mop to clean it up.

Ning Qingqing took two steps slowly, placed her hand on her injured lower back, and then said to the auntie, “Auntie, I want to go downstairs to get some air.”

The auntie nodded, “It’s okay, I’ll clean the inside, after you go downstairs, I’ll go back upstairs and continue to clean the coffee spilled by the door.”

“Okay, thank you.” Ning Qingqing said.

She came out of the company slowly, not wanting to go too far, so she sat down in a coffee shop next to the company.

At this moment, someone called her: “Hey, Ning Qingqing?”

Ning Qingqing turned her head and looked at that person, she couldn’t help being surprised, “Senior Wu?”

Wu Fei was Shen Zhiqian’s high school deskmate. Since Shen Zhiqian and Ning Qingqing were dating, so naturally the other party was familiar with Ning Qingqing.

“I happened to come over for some business, so I didn’t expect to meet you.” After Wu Fei finished speaking, he sat down opposite Ning Qingqing and chatted, “Why are you alone, where is Shen Zhiqian?”

“He’s still busy upstairs.” Ning Qingqing replied.

Wu Fei then chatted about other things. He had always been talkative and the two of them were considered close, so as expected there wasn’t any awkward silence.

And at this moment, Shen Zhiqian came down from upstairs.

He heard from the auntie that Ning Qingqing had gone downstairs, but she did not answer his calls, so he came down to find her.

He didn’t understand why Ning Qingqing was angry, maybe it was because the other party was Si Luoqing.

And he had already told Ning Qingqing before that when he was with Si Luoqing back then, it was completely child’s play. At that time, he didn’t even know what “like” was, he just thought it was fun to have a girlfriend.

Thinking about how to explain later, Shen Zhiqian arrived at the intersection. With a turn of his eyes, he saw Ning Qingqing who was chatting happily with Wu Fei by the window of the coffee shop.

Shen Zhiqian’s footsteps immediately stopped, his eyes darkened, and finally turned into self-mockery!

Ha, Wu Fei liked Ning Qingqing before, how could he not see it? And he was so worried about Ning Qingqing, and look at her now, talking and laughing with a man who had a crush on her!

All the things he wanted to explain were forgotten in face of the ridicule of what he cared about most at that moment. Shen Zhiqian’s eyes turned cold, and he turned to leave.

The author has something to say:

Babes, when I create supporting roles, I choose the names randomly, but today I realized that Shen Zhiqian and his father’s names are pronounced the same (Shen Qian, sweat (°ー°〃)!)… I quickly changed his father’s name (to Shen Yeyuan). I also fixed the earlier chapters, everyone please overlook my terrible name giving…

Translator’s ramblings:

Happy Chinese New Year! ヾ( ˃ᴗ˂ )◞ • *✰