Xu Youning wandered out the conference room but found nowhere to go. Then she directly went to the secretary office to gossip with the one she was familiar with.
Beyond her expectation, she was surrounded by a group of gossipy women.
The administrative secretary held her shoulders with excitement and asked, “Youning, how was your trip abroad with Mr. Mu? Was it romantic? Was it exciting?”
Xu Youning’s mind was filled up with questions; she said, “Huh?”
She thought, “What the hell is the trip abroad?”
“Come on.” The secretary patted Xu Youning’s arm, giving her a meaningful smile and said, “Everyone here knows that you were touring abroad with Mr. Mu last week!”
Xu Youning was speechless while thinking it was funny, then she asked, “… Who told you?”
“Ah Guang.” The secretary said, “Everybody knows that Mr. Mu trusts him the most. So he must be telling the truth. Hey, the other day when you came here for Mr. Mu, I thought that you may have a relationship with him. I guessed it!”
“…” Xu Youning wanted to fight with Ah Guang at a deserted place.
“Youning, come on. Tell us something.” A few secretaries surrounded Xu Youning and said, “We’re curious to know what Mr. Mu was like when he was traveling!”
“Doesn’t he… always look the same?” Xu Youning thought, “He’s always showing a cold face as if someone owed him a lot of money…”
The secretaries became disappointed, but they continued asking, ” Did Mr. Mu give you any surprises?”
Xu Youning felt rather embarrassed and asked, “Do you think he did it?”
“No, but we think that he will do it for you.” A secretary seriously said, “Since you two have traveled together, nothing is impossible!”
Xu Youning made a hollow laugh and said, “Well, he did surprise me.”
For her, being caught by Kang Ruicheng was a shock rather than a surprise.
Xu Youning realized that if they continued chatting, she would be shocked by the rumor about Mu Sijue and her. She just smiled and left those gossipy women for Mu Sijue’s office.
Beyond her expectation, there was another woman in Mu Sijue’s office.
A quite attractive one.
With charming wavy hair and a pair of 10 cm-high stiletto heels, she was wearing a skintight red dress that outlined her curvy figure. As Xu Youning often said, that was a woman, a mobile sex monster with noticeable lure.
As Xu Youning saw closely, she found that the woman was Mu Sijue’s type. What was more, different from his ex-girlfriends, she had really gotten class and grown up with an excellent family background. And, they were very close.
Seeing Xu Youning break in suddenly, the woman frowned with dissatisfaction and said, “Sijue, your men have no manners at all, right?”
Mu Sijue gave Xu Youning a glance with a teasing look on his face.
Xu Youning had a bad feeling that she would be teased, so she said at once, “Miss, I’m sorry to bother you. But I’ve gotten something urgent to report. Or, may I leave now?”
“Wait a minute.” The woman stopped Xu Youning and eyed her from head to toe. Then she arrogantly asked, “How long have you worked here?”
Xu Youning hated it the most that some people always looked down on others, so she smiled and said, “I can’t answer your question.”
“What?” Yang Shanshan couldn’t believe that anyone would speak to her like that.
“Firstly, you’re not my boss; secondly, you can ask me and I can choose to answer you or not.” Xu Youning made a big laugh and said, “I’m telling you that I don’t want to answer your question.”
“Sijue!” Yang Shanshan looked back at Mu Sijue and said, “You see? She…”
“Secretary… Xu,” Mu Sijue said. He scolded Xu Youning in a soft voice. “No matter what she asks, you have to answer. I’m ordering you.”
Although Xu Youning was surprised that Mu Sijue was in league with her, she repeatedly cursed him in mind while feigning a glad face and said, “Oh, I can answer you. I’ve worked here for some time.”
With her arms crossed over her chest, Yang Shanshan haughtily walked over to Xu Youning and asked, “Have you seen Xu Youning?”
“Huh?” After being confused for three seconds, Xu Youning realized what had been going on, and she figured out why Mu Sijue had asked her to answer Yang Shanshan’s question. She nodded and said, “Yes, I’ve seen her for many times. I know her well.”
As expected, Yang Shanshan asked in disdain, “What’s she like?”
“She’s kindhearted, beautiful and elegant!” Xu Youning began to speak highly of herself. “She’s the most charming girl I’ve ever seen. It’s not surprising that everybody falls in love with her!” After that, she innocently looked at Yang Shanshan and said, “Miss, do you want to know her? I can introduce you to her!”
“…” Yang Shanshan pursed her lips and asked, “Has Xu Youning ever come here?”
Xu Youning gave Mu Sijue a glance and said, “Yes. Though she isn’t an employee of the company, she and Mr. Mu… oh, she often comes here.” With that, she intentionally gave Mu Sijue another glance and said, “I’ve heard that she traveled with Mr. Mu last week!”
Maybe Xu Youning was good at acting, or Yang Shanshan was too gullible; whatever, Yang Shanshan believed all that Xu Youning was saying. She looked back at Mu Sijue with a surprised look on her face and asked, “Is she telling the truth?”
Mu Sijue gave Xu Youning a glance as well, then he asked instead of answering, “Do you think she dares to lie in front of me?”
Mu Sijue’s response was beyond Xu Youning’s expectation. She waved her hands toward Yang Shanshan and said sincerely, “I would never dare to do that!”
Yang Shanshan stamped her foot in anger and walked over to the desk. “Sijue, you like Xu Youning as the rumor said. Is it true?”
Xu Youning subconsciously looked at Mu Sijue—his black eyes seemed like an ancient deep pool that nobody could see through it as nobody could see through him.
He didn’t seem to be surprised at Yang Shanshan’s question and simply said in an indifferent voice, “No matter whom I like, no other relationship could exist between you and me.”
It seemed that his words hurt Yang Shanshan. She was stunned, then she shook her head and said, “Sijue, we grew up together…”
“I remember that we just met each other several times when we were kids.” Mu Sijue gave her a stony face and said, “Shanshan, you should listen to Uncle Yang.”
Yang Shanshan closed her eyes then opened them and said, “I did listen to him and I got his point. But… I can’t make it.”
Her father had once been the right-hand man of Mu Sijue’s grandfather, so Mu Sijue had to call him uncle with great respect.
Therefore, when she was very young, she met Mu Sijue, a teenager who looked like a young king with a mettlesome and handsome bearing. Her heart raced, and she fell in love with him at first sight.
However, Mu Sijue had never had any interest in her all those years.
Her father had told her to give up; he said that Mu Sijue would never be moved by perseverance or sincerity because he was clear about whom to love or hate, and hardly anyone could ever change his mind.
She had tried to give up her painful one-side love with him. However, each time she tried, she failed. Mu Sijue was like a nightmare that showed up in her mind from time to time. She couldn’t help thinking of him, with an overwhelming desire to see him and to get in touch with him.
After a few years, her father sent her abroad. Nevertheless, she couldn’t forget Mu Sijue at all. She had always asked about his dates, and when she heard that he wasn’t looking for a relationship, she would be happy for days in the hope of becoming his girlfriend.
However, the other day someone suddenly told her that Mu Sijue had been close to a woman who was working for him, and he had traveled abroad with her.
It seemed that her heart instantly fell to the bottom of a valley. She booked a flight like crazy to return and inquired about that woman. In the end, she was told that it was Xu Youning.
Because of that woman, Mu Sijue told her that no matter whom he liked, no other relationship could exist between her and him.
“I won’t give up!” Yang Shanshan clenched her teeth and said, “I’m flying back to Canada to quit my job right now. I’ll be back! Though you declined me, I’ll try my best!”
After that, Yang Shanshan stormed out, with only Mu Sijue and Xu Youning left in the big office.
Mu Sijue then fixed his eyes on Xu Youning with a teasing and cold look on his face. She seemed to guess what he would do to her, so she said, “It’s you that ordered me to answer whatever she asked.”
“I asked you to answer her, but you talked rubbish.”
“Did I?” Xu Youning said as if she had done right. “I answered all the questions in detail, and I was telling the truth!”
Mu Sijue had no time to debate on that issue; he pushed his coffee cup in front of Xu Youning and said, “Make me a cup of coffee.”
However, Xu Youning took him a glass of warm water. Mu Sijue saw it but said nothing, then he began to deal with the piled up documents on his desk.
Mu Sijue hated to be disturbed when working; seeing him absorbed in his work, Xu Youning became silent, giving him help when he needed it and enjoying her time on the sofa. Sometimes she looked up and took a peep at him, which made her inexplicably happy for a while.
That was how the day went. As the last afterglow of sunset slipped away from the glass window, the entire city was gradually shrouded in darkness.
Mu Sijue finished his work and looked up. He found that Xu Youning was leisurely leaning back on the sofa playing a game while her fingers were busy with her phone screen.
The lights of the sitting area in the office were off and it was dim there. The light from the screen lit up Xu Youning’s smooth white-skinned face with pretty features, while her long eyelashes moved like two mini brushes from time to time.
Mu Sijue walked over to her and pulled the phone out of her hand. He said, “Let’s go home.”
Xu Youning stretched out her hand and said, “Give my phone back.”
After getting her phone back, she followed Mu Sijue out while still busy playing the game, as if he was a living navigation.
Mu Sijue had never been neglected like that, so he turned and snatched the phone from Xu Youning’s hand, then he put it into his pocket and said coldly, “Follow me!”
His secretaries and assistants saw it all. In their eyes: the phone had made Mu Sijue jealous.