CH 27

Author: Yin Ya

There were not many people at the sixth floor, where the buffet was. There was only a few, who were scattered around. They came in earlier, so there were still quite a lot of vacancies. Just as they walked in, an untimely remark was made by one person. It was from one of the two women out of the five—Tang Sisi.

“We’re not going to eat at the cafeteria? I heard the buffet‘s very expensive here. My meal‘s relatively small, it’s not worth it to eat here.”

Tang Sisi’s complaints caused everyone to be silent. Does this woman have a brain or not? When she wanted to follow them to have a meal at the same place, Zhang Yiheng had advised her that they were going to eat at the buffet, and Tang Sisi even agreed. Now that she came in with them, she had the nerve to complain. As expected, she really had no brain.

Li Yu stood at the side with her arms folded as she laughed.

Wang Cheng put forth a this-matter-has-nothing-to-do-with-me attitude. No matter what, it’s better not to stand out at a time like this. Can’t you see, Zhang Yiheng’s already putting up a half-smile on his face?

“If you think it’s not worth it, then go to another restaurant.” Zhang Yiheng frankly said. What’s the point of being polite toward a puny office worker with no brain?

“What are you all doing here?” A voice suddenly came over.

“Boss?”

They followed the voice and saw their boss, who comes and goes like a shadow, with one hand in his pocket, as he stood from a distance. The tall and handsome man was very eye-catching. No one had seen him since this morning, and now, he suddenly appeared in this restaurant, and he was all by himself.

“Boss, are you here to have a buffet as well? What a coincidence, we’re going to eat here, too. It would be better for you to eat with us, the more the merrier.” Tang Sisi scurried to Chu Yifeng, with a look of wanting to kiss up to him. Just a moment ago, she said that it was expensive; now, she was saying that she wanted to eat here. Indeed, she was a fickle woman.

Chu Yifeng looked at Wang Cheng.

Wang Cheng immediately said: “Yeah, eat with us, Boss.”

“Okay.”

Everybody’s mood immediately changed from cloudy to clear, and the atmosphere was hyped up again by Zhang Yiheng. Fang Tian immediately called everyone to get their own trays for the dishes. As the name ‘buffet’ suggested, you would have to hand over your payment first, before you could eat as much as you could. However, because of Wang Cheng’s suggestion, they purchased the group price discount online. Only Chu Yifeng and Tang Sisi had not paid. Tang Sisi joined them while they were on their way, and at that time, Zhang Yiheng had already made the purchase.

“Boss, can I help you get a plate for your food?” Wang Cheng was standing next to him. It was also not good to think only of himself.

“Yeah, but give me a moment first.”

Chu Yifeng walked over to the counter to pay, and Tang Sisi promptly followed after him.

Wang Cheng glanced at them. It seemed like Tang Sisi wanted to talk to the boss, but the boss’s response was quite dull. It almost looked like Tang Sisi was talking to herself. At the counter, Tang Sisi thought that the boss would pay for her as well. After all, she was considered a beauty, and sixty RMB was not particularly expensive. When she was about to leave, she was stopped by the cashier.

“Miss, you haven’t paid yet.”

Wang Cheng saw Tang Sisi’s complexion was ghastly and almost laughed out loud.

“What are you laughing at?” Chu Yifeng arrived in from of him. It was just in time to catch the smile on Wang Cheng’s face that was too late for him to conceal. He then took the plate from Wang Cheng.

“Nothing.” Wang Cheng did not believe that the boss was not aware. He could clearly hear the cashier’s voice from where he stood. However, since the boss wanted to pretend that he did not know, he chose not to gossip about his fellow office worker in front of his boss, too.

There were different kinds of buffets, which were divided into six courses: hot dishes, cold dishes, staple foods, seafoods, pastries, and fruits. There were plenty of food in here. Looking at these bedazzled Wang Cheng. He wanted to eat this and wanted to eat that.

“Is it your first time to eat at a buffet?”

When his boss’s voice sounded in his ears, Wang Cheng looked up at him and nodded: “Please enlighten me, Boss.”

“Are you particular about the details or not?” asked Chu Yifeng.

“I’m not very particular about the details, but I can give it a go and learn.”

“The first course are appetizers which are best eaten in small amounts. There are salty and sour dishes. The second course are the soups. The third course are fish dishes. The fourth course are the staple foods, then here we have meat and poultry dishes, and finally, the desserts.”

It could be reckoned that Wang Cheng was the only one who could make Chu Yifeng patiently give a presentation like this.

“Tsk, that’s about it for being meticulous, I’ll still follow my own interests.” Wang Cheng decided to rush for the long table full of staple foods. Anyway, after eating, he could always come back to get more.

The others also picked the foods that they liked. Most men were actually not so particular about it. Just like Wang Cheng, they had all meat in their meals, which was common in this buffet restaurant, but it was not as much as Wang Cheng’s. For Li Yu and Tang Sisi, both women’s meal was not as much as his. Those who knew that he had a comparatively large appetite thought that it was nothing, while those who did not know were frightened. He can eat all of that? However, some think that Wang Cheng was always on the lookout for petty advantages.

There was a brief interlude wherein an incident took place at the seat of honor.

When Chu Yifeng was about to sit down, Tang Sisi could not wait to sit down. That action and speed of hers made her look like she could not withstand them being unable to see that she was growing very impatient, but both Wang Cheng and Chu Yifeng ignored her. Just when they were eating, Tang Sisi chattered away incessantly, which awfully affected their appetite.

“Miss Tang, didn’t your mother teach you to talk less while you‘re eating? If you don’t want to eat, don’t bother us.” Wang Cheng could not bear to endure. He was sitting opposite the boss. He just had to raise his head, and he would immediately see what Tang Sisi was doing. More than ten minutes had passed by, and the food on her plate was not touched at all. From beginning to end, her mouth operated like a machine gun that was full of bullets.

“If you don’t want to hear it, you can go to another table to eat, and no one asked you to sit here.” Seeing that Chu Yifeng did not react earlier, Tang Sisi dared to say this much.

Many women started working before they knew how realistic the society was and how difficult it was to earn a salary. In their minds, they quick-wittedly thought that if they had the good looks, they did not need to suffer. They just needed to remember to get along with their big boss to live a happy life. As a boss, Chu Yifeng naturally became Tang Sisi’s target. There were many women like her in the society, but there were few who could really succeed.

“If you don’t want to eat, then leave.”

Tang Sisi looked at Chu Yifeng speaking with shock.

“Didn’t you hear me?” Chu Yifeng indifferently glanced at her.

Tang Sisi trembled with fear, carried her own plate, and fled in defeat.

When the boss got into action, the world immediately became peaceful.

Wang Cheng willingly left the restaurant after eating until his tummy was at the point of bursting. The waiter reckoned that he would never want to see him come again, because Wang Cheng could eat a meal which costs more than forty-nine RMB. He chose to eat all of the expensive ones, and not to mention, the quantity that he ate was quite a lot. All summed up to 100 RMB. The buffet restaurant was most afraid of people with this kind of special big appetite. Their business would not make any profit because of them.

In the afternoon, Chu Yifeng also stayed at the company to finish his work, but Wang Cheng did not talk to him during this period of time. They had no communication at work. Only Li Yu and Zhang Yiheng looked for him from time to time. They busied themselves and no one was chatting or laughing. Even Tang Sisi did not put out some matters to attract attention, probably because of the fright she received during lunch time.

After work, Wang Cheng went directly to another building to find his big brother. He was off work for half an hour earlier than his big brother. However, because he still had no mobile phone, Wang Ning’an asked him to go directly to their company and wait downstairs after work. A quarter after six, Wang Cheng saw his big brother’s figure coming out of the building, followed by a beautiful woman, treading on high-heeled shoes. The beauty kept talking to him. Their pace was almost at par, but she could not keep up. His big brother did not stop and in the end, she was not able to catch up to him. The beauty stopped and stamped her feet, seemingly unwilling to leave.

“Big brother, you‘re still as popular as ever.” Wang Cheng teased Wang Ning’an as he was walking over. His handsome big brother had been very popular among the girls since the beginning of primary school. Now that he became a so-called successful person, many women were still thinking of approaching and sticking close to him.

“If you‘ll learn to dress up, you can also be popular,” Wang Ning’an said as he glanced at Wang Cheng.

“Forget it.” Wang Cheng thought of Tang Sisi and immediately felt that he was better off not having a girlfriend. He was not in a hurry. Since his big brother was still there, who was older than him, if his parents wants to worry about their sons dating, they would worry about his big brother first.

First, they hurried to the department store. Wang Cheng could not always wear clothes that did not fit. If he was working in the countryside or other outdated places, it would not matter. However, in this place, he should pay attention to his image. Owing to the rush hours, Wang Ning’an just handpicked a few clothes to be worn temporarily according to Wang Cheng’s size. Then, he let Wang Cheng choose a phone model and set up the card. Afterwards, they went to the nearest supermarket.

There were many people at the supermarket. In addition to housewives, there were also office workers. They all came to buy the ingredients they wanted to cook for the evening. The city’s cost of living were expensive. Usually, eating outside would not only have bad effects for the health, but was also expensive. The food costs more than half of their wages, so it would be cost-effective to buy ingredients and go back home to cook for yourself.

Wang Ning’an mostly chose frozen foods. He did not know that Wang Cheng was good at cooking. When more than half of the frozen foods that he took was returned back to the freezer by Wang Cheng, and was replaced by fresh ingredients such as vegetables and fruits, only then did he realize that this younger brother, as it turned out, knew how to cook.

“If Mom finds out you’re always eating frozen foods, she’ll definitely come over here to school you.” Wang Cheng looked at his big brother as he took a pack of fresh beef, and put the bag in the shopping cart.

“You don’t have to tell Mom.” Wang Ning’an simply folded his arms as he stood at the side, and watched Wang Cheng making a selection. No matter how smart he was, there was always something he was not good at. His rural elite was no exception.

“Okay, but you have to please me. I’m certain I won’t tell Mom if I’m in a good mood.”

“Do you need a spanking?” Wang Ning’an smiled because Wang Cheng teased him. He had not seen Wang Cheng for a few months, but his tongue had gotten more and more sharp. However, because of this personality of his, Wang Ning’an simply did not worry about this younger brother of his being bullied within the company. He feared that it would be pretty good if Wang Cheng did not bully others.

Wang Chen sighed. He really did not understand humor.