Chapter 61

Wei Lai asked who would be coming, and Chen Qi said it was the vice president in charge of Baiduo and the director of operations.

She often interacted with these two people and was quite familiar with them.

“Wei Lai, what time should we meet?” Chen Qi was just leaving his house.

“Nine o’clock, at the Jiang’an Yunxuan store. Can you make it there on time?” Wei Lai asked.

“Plenty of time.” Chen Qi hung up the phone.

Zhou Sujin almost understood Wei Lai’s conversation, which he originally intended to leave but decided to remove the cufflinks he had just put on.

“Someone from Baiduo Industries is coming over?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Wei Lai put down her phone and told him which two people were coming. She apologized to him, saying, “You’ll have to have dinner on your own tonight.”

Zhou Sujin placed the cufflinks on her bedside table and said, “It’s okay.”

The supermarket opened late during the holiday, not until eight-thirty, and they had to go to inspect the stores at nine o’clock. There wasn’t enough time to buy dumplings and cook them, so Zhou Sujin prepared a simple breakfast.

Wei Lai absentmindedly ate the fried eggs. When she looked up at him, he happened to be looking at her.

There was nothing to say, so she lowered her head again.

Zhou Sujin kept looking at her, sipping his coffee with a slight frown, swallowing. It tasted like Geisha. She must have brewed the coffee and used the wrong coffee beans by mistake.

Forcing himself to take another sip, he eventually put down the coffee cup.

“Do you have to inspect all the Baiduo stores?” he asked.

Wei Lai looked up again. “Yes, I should be able to finish by the day after tomorrow.”

Zhou Sujin nodded and said, “I’m going to London in a few days.”

Wei Lai was momentarily surprised. “Okay.”

After drinking a few sips of milk, she quickly adjusted her expression. “When is your flight?”

Zhou Sujin picked up his phone and instructed Yang Ze to arrange the flight. “The earliest one is in the afternoon.”

At eight-forty-five, Wei Lai finished her simple breakfast, put on her coat, and planned to go to the store early to wait for Chen Qi.

Zhou Sujin wiped his hands with a wet towel and went to the entrance.

Wei Lai picked up her bag to leave. “Wei Lai,” Zhou Sujin called her, “did you forget something?”

She had forgotten to hug him before leaving.

Wei Lai turned around, raised her hand, and gently hugged him. “Have a safe trip.”

Zhou Sujin wrapped his arm around her shoulder, his other hand around her waist, lifting her up.

Wei Lai leaned her forehead against his chin, avoiding looking at him.

Zhou Sujin could only breathe in the faint scent of her hair. “I know why you’re keeping your distance from me now, and why you’re retracting your feelings. I can’t let our marriage drift further apart just because I allow it. Personality and habits are hard to change, and even if I promise to make you happy and comply with you now, I may not be able to do so in the future. How can I promise you things that I’m not even sure I can keep? What I can do now is already my limit. In our first year of marriage, I compromised several times, and the process of compromise was much harder than you imagined.

When we got married, we chose the contractual way of getting along precisely because I know myself too well, and it’s hard for me to give up my personal space.

Now the contradiction has come.

I’ll handle the problem.

I’m sorry I ruined your New Year’s Eve.

I’ll be back in two or three days.”

Wei Lai read the message over and over again, not knowing how to reply.

After waiting for half an hour, Zhou Sujin finally locked his phone.

After taking a nap, the plane landed in London.

After a year, he went to Xinming Group again, and Xiao Donghan was very surprised.

He joked, “Did Zhan Yanxin provoke you again?”

He had heard about it; it was because of a watch last year.

Zhou Sujin hadn’t rested well on the plane. He placed the cooperation agreement he brought on the table, drank coffee to wake himself up, and didn’t mention Zhan Yanxin. “It’s because I made Wei Lai angry.”

Xiao Donghan picked up the agreement Zhou Sujin brought and flipped through it, skimming over the important clauses. He said casually, “Since when do you care about others’ feelings?”

Zhou Sujin took another sip of his coffee, unabashedly stating, “Others may not care, but I’ve always cared about hers.”

Xiao Donghan: “…”

He chuckled a few times, refraining from making any comment.

Turning to the second page of the agreement, the focus shifted to the opportunity to acquire the premium assets of the Xinming Group.

“Why did you give up this opportunity yourself?” asked Xiao Donghan.

Zhou Sujin replied, “No time.”

“Is it really no time, or is it because you need to deal with Zhang Yanxin and Wei Lai’s unhappiness, making it difficult for you to handle?” inquired Xiao Donghan.

“She’s unhappy because of me,” Zhou Sujin replied.

Xiao Donghan nodded, continuing to read. Zhou Sujin had passed on the merger opportunity to him, assisting him in the acquisition with his own network resources, but with conditions.

After reading the last few lines of the second page, Xiao Donghan looked up. “Zhang Yanxin offended you on Chinese New Year’s Day last year, yet you spared him. Is it out of mercy?”

“It’s not mercy, it’s giving face to Wei Lai,” Zhou Sujin explained.

To prevent the Xinming Group from being driven to a dead end, only to fall out of the top ten in Jiangcheng.

Xiao Donghan accepted the cooperation agreement. “Is it because you’re too busy to deal with Xinming, or is it conflicting with other projects?”

“It’s not related to the projects. Wei Lai doesn’t like being apart, and I need to resolve it quickly.”

“So, are you planning to stay in Jiangcheng permanently from now on?”

Zhou Sujin poured himself another cup of coffee. “I can’t stay permanently.” Kunchen is in Beijing; he can’t neglect the affairs of the group. He can only spend half of his time in Jiangcheng at most.

And what Wei Lai wants is to see him every day.

—

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, Jiangcheng welcomed its first snow of the year.

Wei Lai had only visited ten of the remaining twenty stores by the morning. She got up as usual at eight o’clock in the morning.

The house was warm, and overnight, several more orchids in the living room had quietly bloomed, elegantly adorning the branches.

While having breakfast, Chen Qi called her again, saying Zhao Lianshen would be coming to Jiangcheng today.

“Why is he coming?” she asked.

“To check on the supermarket’s operations,” Chen Qi replied.

Zhao Lianshen was now the largest shareholder of Wei Lai·Baiduo, so she couldn’t neglect to entertain him. “There are still ten stores I haven’t visited. Take him to see them.”

Zhao Lianshen arrived at Jiangcheng Airport at noon, and Chen Qi was there to pick him up.

On the way back to the city, he asked about the progress of overseas procurement.

Chen Qi reported truthfully that he had gone to Australia and Europe after work to negotiate and had already made appointments with several platforms there.

“Are you in charge of overseas business?” Zhao Lianshen asked.

“Wei Lai oversees that,” Chen Qi replied.

Zhao Lianshen just nodded, taking the financial report of Wei Lai.

In the afternoon, Wei Lai took Zhao Lianshen to visit the remaining ten stores, and by the end, it was almost seven o’clock.

Accompanying them today were Chen Qi and Yu Younian. Chen Qi had booked a private room at a riverside restaurant in advance and glanced at Wei Lai, waiting for her decision on whether to go to the restaurant now.

Zhao Lianshen didn’t have a great impression of the riverside restaurant, perhaps because the Zhang Yanxin couple were there that day.

“Don’t you have a cafeteria?” he asked Wei Lai.

Wei Lai replied, “The chefs are off; they’ll be back to work on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.”

Zhao Lianshen pondered for a moment. “I heard that Ms. Wei is good at cooking.”

Wei Lai chuckled. “It’s just passable.”

Zhao Lianshen then asked Yu Younian, “How about General Yu’s cooking?”

Yu Younian modestly replied, “I can’t compare with General Wei; I just manage.”

In fact, Yu Younian was quite good at cooking. His daughter liked the braised dishes he made.

Zhao Lianshen said, “I can cook a few dishes too. The dishes outside during the New Year are usually mediocre. It’s more convenient to discuss work by making a few simple dishes in the cafeteria.”

Since the major shareholder said so, it wouldn’t be right to insist on going to the riverside restaurant.

Wei Lai called the head chef at the main store to prepare some ingredients.

The head chef asked if they wanted some hotpot ingredients since stir-frying dishes would get cold quickly, but hotpot would be convenient, warm, and easy.

Wei Lai was on a WeChat call, with Zhao Lianshen sitting next to her, listening clearly. He immediately decided, “Then let’s have hotpot as well.”

Yu Younian thoughtfully added, “Would Mr. Zhao like some dumplings?”

“That’s fine,” Zhao Lianshen replied.

On the other end of the call, the head chef said, “Since you’re in Jiangcheng, you must try our Jiangcheng soup balls. They’re delicious.”

Zhao Lianshen was in a good mood tonight. Leaning slightly, he said to the head chef, “Thank you, then add another bag of soup balls.”

Wei Lai smiled and said to the head chef, “The best tangyuan I’ve ever eaten are the ones made by Ms. Wei.”

In previous years, on the evening of Chinese New Year’s Eve, Cheng Minzhi would always bring homemade tangyuan (glutinous rice balls) to the company and cook them after working overtime.

Last year and this year, Cheng Minzhi went on vacation, and she hadn’t had tangyuan for two consecutive years.

Wei Lai smiled. “If you want to eat them, it’s simple. There are soup ball fillings in the refrigerator at my apartment.”

She instructed the driver to go to her apartment first.

Chen Qi couldn’t cook, so he was assigned the task of making soup balls.

The company cafeteria was not very large, only enough for thirty to forty people to dine at the same time.

The team from Wei Lai also ate here, but they had to eat in batches each time.

Zhao Lianshen looked around. “Is the cafeteria sufficient?”

Wei Lai replied, “Not enough. We plan to double its size and renovate it after the new year.”

It took half an hour for the air conditioning to warm up. Zhao Lianshen took off his coat and rolled up his sleeves, preparing to cook the dish he wanted.

Yu Younian also made a dish, while Wei Lai, being skilled in cooking, made two.

In addition to hotpot, there were also tangyuan, and dumplings, and Chen Qi remarked that it was even more sumptuous than the New Year’s Eve dinner.

Younian sighed, “We’ve regained the feeling from before. In the past few years when our stores were fewer, Cheng always organized a special team-building activity for us every Chinese New Year, where we gathered and cooked together. The food was incredibly fragrant.”

Zhao Lianshen chimed in, “From now on, the third day of the Chinese New Year will be designated as cafeteria team-building day, and the executives of Baiduo will also participate.”

Chen Qi echoed, “That’s a good idea.”

Wei Lai was about to object, but Younian immediately agreed.

Not wanting to dampen everyone’s enthusiasm, she swallowed her objections.

Chen Qi had previously felt that Zhao Lianshen was high-handed, but after spending the afternoon with him, he found him quite amiable, probably due to the reconciliation between the two families.

“Mr. Zhao, you can actually cook.”

Zhao Lianshen smiled rarely and said, “I just learned before coming here. Do you believe it?”

Chen Qi hesitated. How to answer this question was a bit tricky.

He could only dodge it as best he could, saying, “Then we are fortunate.”

Today, Wei Lai also had two other executives on duty at the company. She called them over.

In less than an hour, four dishes were ready, and the hotpot was also boiling.

Younian served the steaming dumplings, which had both meat and vegetable fillings.

Before they could sit down and start eating, Wei Lai’s phone vibrated.

“Hello.” She walked to the window to answer.

“Are you still at the company?” Zhou Sujin asked.

“Yeah.”

“Have you had dinner yet?”

“No, I’m preparing to eat in the cafeteria.”

Wei Lai couldn’t help but ask, “And you?”

He didn’t reply immediately. She heard the sound of a car door closing on the other end of the phone.

Zhou Sujin struggled to put on his coat with one hand and replied, “Not yet.”

Wei Lai glanced at her watch. Every time she saw the star and moon design on the dial, she felt a pang of longing for him.

Taking into account the time difference, it was now quarter past noon in London.

Zhou Sujin made his way from the parking lot to the supermarket’s back door, which was adjacent to the cafeteria.

He asked her, “Could you open the door for me?”

Wei Lai was surprised. “You’re back?”

“Yeah.”

“…”

Wei Lai hung up the phone and said to the table, “Zhou Sujin is here to pick me up.”

They all knew that Zhou Sujin had gone to London. Zhao Lianshen smiled generously and said, “Let Zhou come over and join us, and taste the cooking of the few of us.”

Chen Qi was making tangyuan and remained silent.

Wei Lai walked over to open the door, and Zhou Sujin, wearing a black coat, looked dusty.

She grabbed his coat and whispered, “Zhao Lianshen is here too.”

It was for Zhang Yanxin on New Year’s Eve, and now it was for Zhao Lianshen. Only at times like this was she willing to pull on his clothes.

Zhou Sujin looked into her eyes. “Will I be disturbing your work if I come in?”

Wei Lai replied, “It won’t, and we haven’t really discussed work much.”

She nudged him. “Come join us for dinner; there are dumplings you like.”

Except for Zhao Lianshen, the others were not familiar with him, but they were all looking forward to having a meal with this rumored bigwig from Beijing.

Zhou Sujin and Zhao Lianshen locked eyes for a moment, neither of them speaking first.

Everyone felt the tension in the air.

Younian pulled up a chair next to Wei Lai, warmly inviting Zhou Sujin to sit down.

“It’s especially honored to have dinner with Mr. Zhou and Mr. Zhao this year.”

Zhao Lianshen poured a glass of wine and handed it to him. “If I had known you were coming, we would have made a few more dishes.”

Zhou Sujin sat directly across from him. “No need to trouble yourself. I’ll just eat dumplings.”

Zhao Lianshen pushed the plate of dumplings in front of him, saying, “These were cooked by Wei Lai for me. You can have them first, and I’ll cook some more later.”

Everyone present was well aware of the holiday between Zhao Lianshen and Zhou Sujin. Today, they were looking forward to having a meal with them, partly out of curiosity.

They wanted to see how these two big shots would subtly spar with each other.

Zhao Lianshen’s remark about “cooked by Wei Lai” was too cutting. No one could predict how Zhou Sujin would respond.

The cafeteria had never been so silent.

Zhou Sujin replied calmly, “No need to be polite. Since these dumplings are a gesture of hospitality, you should have the first taste.”

Without a response, Zhao Lianshen smiled slyly and put the plate back.

Zhou Sujin glanced at the dishes on the table. He recognized the dishes Wei Lai was good at, but the other two weren’t hers. He asked, “Are any of these dishes made by Mr. Zhao?”

Zhao Lianshen replied, “The plate in front of you.”

Zhou Sujin picked up his chopsticks. “Let me try.”

Chen Qi, sitting beside them, couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. With just a few words, Zhou Sujin completely controlled the situation.

Wei Lai asked him, “Do you want some dumplings? I’ll cook another plate for you.”

“No need. Mr. Zhao’s dishes are good,” Zhou Sujin said casually as he ate.

Glancing at the dishes he made, Zhao Lianshen’s good mood from eating dumplings was diminished.

Chen Qi tried to lighten the mood. “Mr. Zhou, would you like a bowl of tangyuan that I made?”

“Sure.”

After tasting a few mouthfuls, Zhou Sujin commented, “Is this our soup ball filling?”

Chen Qi chuckled. “Yes, Ms. Cheng used to provide it as a benefit, and Ms. Wei continues it this year. Mr. Zhou, can you tell?”

“Often.”

Having eaten a little, Zhou Sujin put down his chopsticks and started cooking lamb slices for Wei Lai.

Wei Lai ate the hotpot lamb slices, her feelings were mixed.

After the team-building dinner ended, the snow outside had covered everything in white.

Zhou Sujin drove slowly, allowing her to admire the snow scene all the way from the main store to the Jiang’an Yunhe. It took more than an hour.

“Will you still need to inspect the stores tomorrow?”

“Finished. I’ll be at home tomorrow.”

Zhou Sujin pulled into the underground garage. Without the snowscape to gaze at, Wei Lai withdrew her gaze from the windshield.

Her home was still the same as before he left for London; she hadn’t come back to stay these past few days.

Closing the door, he first brought the suitcase to the living room and didn’t help her hang her coat.

Feeling the chill in the house, Wei Lai kept her scarf around her neck as she went to the kitchen to pour hot water. She asked him, “Would you like some?”

“Sure, pour me a cup.” Two cups were prepared.

Zhou Sujin opened the suitcase and showed her the gifts he had brought. “Come take a look.”

Putting down the two cups of hot water, Wei Lai sat on the sofa beside him. “What gift is it?”

Zhou Sujin took out the box and opened it. “Give me your hand.”

It was a star-studded diamond watch.

Simple yet luxurious.

Wei Lai looked at his profile. “Why did you buy me another watch?”

Zhou Sujin took off her previous watch and put the new one on her wrist. “It suits you.” Holding her hand without letting go, he looked into her eyes. “I messaged you before going to London. Why didn’t you reply?”

It was a very long message.

Wei Lai looked down at her wrist. “I don’t know how to like you anymore.”

Zhou Sujin enveloped her fingertips in his palm. “Then let’s just be like before.”