“Our director is a good person.”
I felt a bit guilty about teasing him now.
After overtime, I went to Yin Jie and Yu Hua’s dorm to mooch some instant noodles. Yu Hua found my visit quite unusual, “Why aren’t you out having dinner with Manager Lin today?”
I happily told her: “Manager Lin is super busy today, haven’t seen him all day. He was called to dinner by the district officials tonight, seems some important figure is visiting.”
Yin Jie was speechless: “Your boyfriend can’t accompany you and you’re this happy?”
“You call that accompanying? It’s more like enslaving me, always making me work.”
Yin Jie rolled her eyes heavenward: “Just the other day someone was telling me how beautiful Shantang Street looks after snow, that we must go.”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“And that there’s this amazing Northeastern restaurant by Jinji Lake.”
“…Right.”
“That all the recent movies are terrible and not worth watching. ALL of them, note the emphasis on ALL!”
I quietly shut up.
Yin Jie smiled without humor: “And tomorrow’s Saturday you’re going to Tiger Hill, right? After all this, you still dare say Manager Lin makes you work?”
I defended myself: “I do work overtime! It’s just that my efficiency has improved. Now I work through lunch doing accounts, and usually stay an extra hour in the evening before we leave together.”
“Oh, you poor thing.” Yin Jie agreed without sympathy, “Though dating does seem tiring—I keep getting emails from Manager Lin in the middle of the night.”
I stopped my chopsticks in confusion, “Middle of the night emails?”
“Yeah,” Yin Jie said, “Every morning when I open my inbox, there are several work emails from Manager Lin. Looking at the end times, they’re all around eleven or midnight. See, this is the price of dating—when he’s sending these, I’m happily watching dramas or sound asleep!”
Eleven or midnight, isn’t that after he drops me off at the dorm? I thought he went straight home, but he’s working overtime.
“Before, last year, it wasn’t like this?” I asked Yin Jie.
“Of course not, your boyfriend is super efficient, and never dragged work past office hours.”
“This is normal when you just start dating.” Yu Hua, who had never dated, concluded with great expertise, then asked curiously, “Xiguang, why did you say our director is a good person? Though he has always been nice.”
“Ah? Just that he’s a good person.” I answered absent-mindedly, my thoughts already drifting elsewhere.
Lin Yusen was out late with the business dinner, calling me at nearly eleven when I was almost asleep in bed. But when my phone rang, I still answered quickly. “Are you home?”
“No, still in the car.”
“Why did dinner run so late?”
“Some officials came, couldn’t dampen the mood. Might need their help someday. This is why being a doctor was better.” Lin Yusen sighed, “Just say you have surgery tomorrow and no one dares press you to drink.”
By now, Lin Yusen and I could naturally talk about his previous medical career. Hearing his pretend sighing even brought a smile to my face, though I still sympathized. “Exactly, those people love making others drink. Did you drink a lot?”
“Not bad, I pretended a bit and they all thought I couldn’t hold my liquor.” Lin Yusen said proudly.
I couldn’t help but ask curiously: “Then what’s your real alcohol tolerance?”
“Haven’t found the limit yet.”
“Right~” I remembered something and drawled, “Our Manager Lin’s limit is hard to test, after all, at weddings he passes his drinks to his companions.”
“Don’t bring up old scores, Miss Nie.” Lin Yusen laughed, “I’ll drink at all future weddings, okay? Though there’s one where I can’t drink for you.”
…I wasn’t going to ask which one.
I said solemnly: “I think you’re drunk, quickly drink some water to sober up. I need to discuss some work matters.”
“Now? Alright, I’ll sober up, go ahead.”
Why did I feel he wasn’t taking this seriously?
Ignoring his attitude, I properly related Director Wu’s concerns, “Anyway, it makes me feel guilty, so maybe we shouldn’t call Director Wu for the next factory visit?”
“We won’t be having more factory visits for a while. We’ll make new arrangements after the new factory is completed and production lines are in place. Xiguang, as the company expands, we naturally need to train new core staff. The recent arrangements weren’t really because of you, so don’t feel guilty.”
“What?” I bolt upright like a jumping carp, “I’ve been feeling guilty for days! I thought it was because of me and even treated innocent young colleagues to milk tea twice—you drank it too!”
“The milk tea was too sweet, did you ask them to add extra sugar?”
“No, that’s just the normal sweetness… Wait, Lin Yusen! I’m angry!”
“Don’t be angry, don’t be angry.” He laughed on the other end, “I’m here.”
“What?”
“Downstairs at your building.”
I threw on my down jacket and ran downstairs angrily, heading automatically toward the less crowded path on the left side of the dorm building.
The company’s business car was already parked by the roadside.
Snow from a few days ago hadn’t melted yet. Lin Yusen had already gotten out of the car, wearing a dark grey coat, standing by the car smiling as he waited for me to approach.
Mysteriously, half my anger dissipated upon seeing him. I slowed my pace and shuffled over to stop in front of him, keeping a stern face as I asked: “Why are you coming so late?”
“Many reasons, couldn’t not come.”
I raised my eyebrows, waiting to see what he’d make up.
“First, we’ve met every day since the seventh day of the New Year. I was worried if we skipped today, I wouldn’t get the accumulated meeting bonus.”
I almost couldn’t hold back my smile: “What accumulated meeting bonus? This isn’t a game where you get rewards for consecutive logins.”
“No?” He gazed at me, eyes dancing with laughter.
I felt a bit dazzled. Seeing no one around, I beckoned to him. He bent down, I stood on tiptoe to get closer… then quickly whispered in his ear.
“No.”
“How stingy.” He broke into a smile, bringing out something he’d been hiding behind his back, “Second reason, I brought you a midnight snack.”
I looked at the bag in his hand, “Midnight snack?”
“Some desserts from tonight’s dinner that I thought you’d like. Had Little Li buy a portion from the hotel.”
Little Li was the company driver who’d accompanied him today.
“But isn’t it bad to eat late at night, especially sweets? Aren’t you a doctor? This is very unprofessional.”
“Fortunately I was unprofessional this once, otherwise I wouldn’t know how to appease my angry girlfriend.”
Sweets alone won’t do it, there’s still 20% anger left.
I took the bag, “What’s the third reason?”
“Third,” Lin Yusen said leisurely, “I was going to say the sun will come out tomorrow, the snow will melt, and I wanted to invite you for a walk before it melts.”
“Was going to?” I caught the key phrase, “You don’t want to anymore?”
“I’m satisfied now.”
I didn’t immediately understand.
Lin Yusen smiled and said: “Don’t need the walk anymore, I’m already satisfied, so I can go back now. Mm, let Little Li get off work earlier too.”
Damn… not only was my anger completely gone, but my heart rate had increased. After a while, I finally steadied my racing heart and praised him graciously: “Then you’re a pretty good boss.”
“Thank you for the compliment. See you tomorrow?”
“See you tomorrow.”
I waved goodbye and started walking back, swinging the paper bag. After a few steps, I suddenly remembered something and hurried back.
Lin Yusen had already gotten in the car.
“Wait,” I called out to him, “Lin Yusen, I forgot to tell you, I decided not to go to Tiger Hill tomorrow.”
Before he could ask why, I rushed to explain, “Lately you’ve been accompanying me shopping and watching movies so much, I’ve been monopolizing too much of your time, you don’t have time for your things. Yin Jie said you often send her emails at eleven or midnight, and you need to prepare for your medical work too. So tomorrow you don’t need to accompany me, you do your things, I can accompany you instead, so you don’t have to stay up late. That’s it, bye, text me when you get home.”
Not giving him time to react, I ran off after finishing.
As expected, my phone rang just as I opened my dorm room door.
I answered with a smile.
On the other end, Lin Yusen sounded somewhat frustrated: “I must have drunk too much, my reactions are so slow. You really won’t go to Tiger Hill?”
“No, I feel like our dating is turning us into tourists. Humble Administrator’s Garden, Lion Grove Garden, Suzhou Museum, Pingjiang Road, Shantang Street…” I was tired of just listing them all, “I haven’t even visited this many places in Wuxi.”
“Same here, there are many places in Shanghai I haven’t been to either.”
So, how fortunate Suzhou is!
“Then we’ll visit Tiger Hill another time.” Lin Yusen said after thinking, “There is quite a bit of work. Some company matters, and I’ve been working on completing a previously shelved paper.”
“Right, we can go when we have time later.”
“But Xiguang, I need to correct a misconception of yours.”
“What?” How did we get to misconceptions?
“Going shopping, watching movies, playing around with you—these are my needs, not just accompanying you. My time naturally has a portion that belongs to you, it’s not monopolizing.”
I stood stunned holding my phone for several seconds, then quietly pressed my forehead against the cold mirror by the door to cool down.
“Also, I’m not staying up late, I only slept four or five hours before too. But I’m happy you care about me, so come to my place tomorrow?”
“Okay, help me download some fun games on your computer.” My voice had somehow become softer.
“Let’s skip that, you can work with me instead.”
What?
I suddenly separated from the mirror, “Can’t you work hard while I play games?”
“No, I’d be jealous.”
…Being a considerate girlfriend is too difficult!