Chapter 8

Question: When you encounter your boss stranded in the rain with a broken-down car, should you pretend not to see him and go back home, or should you go back and hold an umbrella for him?

If she had just started her internship, Zhu Xinyue would have chosen the former without hesitation, but now she has learned the ways of the world.

So, after recognizing Ji Linyu, Zhu Xinyue turned back and held an umbrella for Ji Linyu.

Ji Linyu was a head taller than her. In order to cover him in the umbrella, she had some difficulty raising the umbrella. She held the umbrella handle with both hands and tilted the umbrella slightly.

The driver also reacted at this time, turned around and took the umbrella from the boss, “Thank you, Mr. Ji, you and Miss Zhu should go back to the car and wait.”

Ji Linyu’s palm fell empty, and the only person left in front of him was the girl who was trying hard to hold an umbrella for him.

He reached out, grasped the shaky ribs of the umbrella, straightened it, and shielded her from the rain that was drifting into the umbrella from behind her.

“Go to the car.” Ji Linyu did not comment on her “What a coincidence”, but took her umbrella and let her get into the car.

Zhu Xinyue originally wanted to flatter him, how could she let the big boss hold an umbrella for her? But when she met the man’s eyes that were darker than the night, she swallowed her words and obediently gave the umbrella to Ji Linyu. Under his “escort”, she got into the car and moved inside.

The space inside the car was narrow. After Zhu Xinyue got in, the sound of rain outside became quieter and the coolness gradually dissipated, leaving only the faint scent of the car perfume.

Zhu Xinyue turned her head and looked at Ji Linyu who was standing outside the car. He was holding an umbrella and didn’t look at her. Instead, he looked in the direction of the driver. He didn’t seem to have any intention of getting into the car.

She realized that this was an attempt to avoid suspicion.

Oh, it’s really hard to get close to a boss.

“Brother Linyu.” Zhu Xinyue spoke up, attracting Ji Linyu’s attention, “Aren’t you going to ask me why I’m here?”

Ji Linyu lowered his eyes and saw the cunning in her eyes, like a little fox.

He looked around and saw no passing vehicles, but there was a shared bicycle parked not far away. He had a rough guess.

Zhu Xinyue followed his gaze, leaned forward, looked at the bicycle, and knew what he had guessed.

“It was a coincidence. I had just finished dealing with the video issue, had a midnight snack with her, and after sending her home, I rode the shared bike back by myself. I didn’t expect to run into Brother Linyu on the way.”

“Come to think of it, I learned the lesson of sending her home from Brother Linyu. If I hadn’t sent her home, I wouldn’t have happened to meet you here. Is this the fate that God deliberately arranged for us?”

Fate?

Ji Linyu laughed with an ambiguous tone.

Zhu Xinyue took out the memory card from her pocket and handed it to Ji Linyu.

“This is the memory card that the other party used to shoot the video. She assured me that there is only this copy.” She looked very excited, as if she was taking credit for it.

Ji Linyu did not take the memory card from her palm. Instead, he raised his eyes and fell on her face.

In order to talk to him conveniently, Zhu Xinyue’s body was completely facing him, with her legs hanging in the air. Occasionally, the rain fell on her eyelids. She blinked rapidly and stared at Ji Linyu without blinking.

She seemed to like staring at others so bluntly, with nothing but frankness in her eyes.

It makes people reluctant to shatter her innocent fantasy.

Guarantee? How to guarantee? Relying on the other party’s precarious credit? If guarantees are useful, then what is the point of using laws?

Ji Linyu tightened his grip on the umbrella handle, and when the words came to his lips, he said nothing, only sighed softly.

When Zhu Xinyue heard his sigh, her heart sank.

She lowered her eyes and looked at the memory card in her palm. She was about to curl up her fingers and take the memory card back.

A gray shadow fell on her palm.

He picked up the memory card like a partner who shared the mission with her.

On the cool rainy night, his voice was deep and heavy, as if we were sitting around a fireplace in winter and listening to him tell a story.

“Well done. Leave it to me from now on,” he said.

Zhu Xinyue tilted her head slightly and looked into Ji Linyu’s calm dark eyes.

Behind him was a tall, warm yellow street lamp. Raindrops fell into the range of the light and formed golden threads. The outline of his body was outlined by the golden threads and shrouded in a layer of soft light.

She swallowed subconsciously, folded her empty palms, and let them fall to her side.

Ji Linyu saw that she had calmed down and was no longer as excited as before, and suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.

“What reward do you want?” he asked.

Zhu Xinyue’s eyelids twitched and she looked up at him again.

In fact, what she was thinking just now was that he should criticize her, saying that she was naive and too trusting of others. At this time, she could reveal her true intentions and tell him that she had used threats and inducements, both soft and hard tactics, and even deleted the video in the chat history that Li Zi sent her, and confirmed that only the video was in the memory card – let him discover that her abilities were so strong, and then give her a promotion and a raise.

I didn’t expect him to praise her for doing a good job.

Ask her what reward she wants…

Ji Linyu, you are such a good guy that it’s annoying!

It makes her look dark and fake, not sincere at all.

Zhu Xinyue felt as if her heart was stabbed. She was not used to others being so nice to her, just like Zhu Shilang never asked her how much of his money she had spent. The more money she spent, the more guilty she felt.

“Any reward will do?” Zhu Xinyue asked him back.

Ji Linyu was about to agree, but then he remembered that she had just confessed to him before, and it would not be appropriate to use this “reward” to promise that he would become her boyfriend or something.

So he changed the topic: “Let me hear you talk about it.”

Zhu Xinyue pinched her chin and thought seriously.

The rain outside started to get smaller with the big raindrops.

The rain has stopped.

“How about this?” Zhu Xinyue held the car door, got out of the car, and pointed to the road back to Lishan. “I’m a little full after having a midnight snack. Brother Linyu, can you accompany me to help me digest the food? Let’s walk for a while to help me digest it?”

Ji Linyu blinked slowly and responded.

“Okay.”

On a rainy night, there were few people on the road. Occasionally, a car passed by and its headlights shone from behind them, stretching and shortening their shadows. One shadow was high and the other was low, separated by a short distance. Because of the inconsistent pace, the distance became farther and farther.

Ji Linyu was walking on the outside of the sidewalk, moving forward at his usual pace, but as he was walking, the person next to him disappeared, so he stopped and turned around to look at her.

She put her hands behind her back and stood on tiptoe. She didn’t seem to realize that she had lost him. She just lowered her head, concentrating on avoiding the petals that had been blown down by the wind and rain. It was unclear whether she was afraid of dirtying the soles of her shoes or she felt pity for the fallen petals.

Ji Linyu found it funny, but also felt that this was something she would do. After all, she was a person who paid close attention to the road – she even noticed that the lifted floor tiles would leak water.

Zhu Xinyue saw out of the corner of her eye that the shadow of the person walking in front of her stopped, she looked up at Ji Linyu, and saw him standing in front of her, looking back and waiting for her. She was stunned for a moment, then walked briskly to his side and followed him.

Ji Linyu slowed down this time.

The chaotic and complicated thoughts in his mind, the fatigue from days of work, and the various emergencies encountered on the way back seemed to have been thrown behind him. All that was left was to pay attention to her beside him, so that she would not lose him again.

After all, he promised to walk with her for a while.

“When I walked alone at night before, I was most afraid of someone walking behind me. When I heard footsteps, I would run,” said Zhu Xinyue.

Ji Linyu changed his hand to hold the umbrella and put the hand closest to her into his pocket.

“Last time when you went back to the rental house, weren’t you planning to go back alone?” After she got out of the car, she walked into the dark alley alone, as if she was not afraid at all.

Zhu Xinyue glanced at him and lowered her head.

“I’m embarrassed to ask if you can give me a ride.”

Ji Linyu raised his eyebrows but did not comment.

“I can’t just rely on your kindness to keep asking you for things.” Zhu Xinyue pinched her fingers, “It would be fine if you could refuse, but I’m afraid you won’t.”

Ji Linyu’s mouth corners slightly raised.

This statement is quite novel.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“My intuition.” Zhu Xinyue curved her eyes, “I think that Brother Linyu is a person who will accept other people’s requests as long as they are not too excessive.”

Ji Linyu shook his head to express his disapproval.

“It seems that you don’t know yourself very well.” Zhu Xinyue’s voice ended with a slight rise, as if provoking him.

She took a few more steps forward, turned around, faced Ji Linyu, and walked backwards, “How about we do a test?”

“What test?”

“Let me test if you would refuse me if I changed the reward I just asked from you.” Zhu Xinyue stopped and waited for him to come closer.

Ji Linyu thought, so she was waiting for him here.

Everyone is greedy, and so is she.

“Just say it.” Fortunately, he was mentally prepared.

Ji Linyu stopped smiling and stood in front of her.

“I want…” Zhu Xinyue looked at him seriously, the dark color of her eyes was like an abyss, so thick that it could not be dissolved, as if no light could shine into his eyes.

Zhu Xinyue originally wanted to tentatively propose modifying the contract profit sharing, but she keenly realized that now was not the right time to talk about this, so she changed her mind.

“Brother Linyu will cook a dish for me personally.”

Ji Linyu raised his eyebrows.

Zhu Xinyue looked at him seriously and analyzed it clearly: “Cooking is a very troublesome and time-consuming task. For a busy man like Brother Linyu, time is money. He probably won’t make time to cook for me, right?”

Ji Linyu turned his head away and continued walking forward, pretending not to hear.

Where she couldn’t see, he pursed the corners of his lips and suppressed the smile.

This girl…

She says one thing and means another, plays hard to get, and has many cunning schemes.

“Brother Linyu, Brother Linyu!” Zhu Xinyue quickly chased after him, grabbed his sleeve, and asked him to wait for her. “You are not speaking. Do you refuse or accept?”

Ji Linyu let her pull his sleeve and slowed down his pace.

“You don’t have to give me reasons to refuse. I’m not as easy to accept other people’s requests as you think. Helping you is just a piece of cake. Rewarding you is my promise. Since it’s a promise, I will fulfill it. Cook…you decide the time.”

Zhu Xinyue opened her eyes wide and almost bit her tongue.

What? Did she hear it right? He really agreed! If she had known, she would have mentioned the profit sharing!

Zhu Xinyue let go of his sleeve and beat her chest in frustration.

“What’s wrong?” Ji Linyu asked.

Zhu Xinyue said with tears in her eyes: “I am so happy!”

Perhaps infected by her “happiness”, Ji Linyu’s eyes also showed a little more smile.

It was almost two o’clock in the morning when the two walked back to Lishan.

The light in the living room was still on, as if someone was still awake.

Zhu Xinyue changed her shoes at the entrance, and Ji Linyu put the umbrella into the umbrella stand.

The sounds of doors opening and closing came from upstairs. Zhu Xinyue was attracted by the sound and looked up.

Ji Qingyuan came out of the room, leaned against the railing, met Zhu Xinyue’s gaze, smiled, and was about to speak when he saw his brother appear beside her.

The smile on Ji Qingyuan’s lips froze for a moment. He put his hands on the railing and greeted them as he walked down.

“Brother, Xinyue. Why did you come back together?”

“We just happened to meet on the road.” After changing his shoes, Ji Linyu greeted Ji Qingyuan and walked into the house.

Ji Qingyuan walked past Ji Linyu and, as usual, habitually put his hand on Zhu Xinyue’s shoulder and called out to Ji Linyu who was walking to the stairs, “Brother, do you want to have lunch together tomorrow?”

Ji Linyu looked towards him, his eyes paused on Zhu Xinyue’s shoulder, then moved away and continued to walk upstairs, saying casually, “It depends on the situation.”

Zhu Xinyue was just about to move her body to escape from Ji Qingyuan’s “claws” when she heard the person who walked up to the second floor cough lightly. When she looked up, he pointed at his watch.

Ji Linyu: “Set a time and tell me.”

Zhu Xinyue knew that Ji Linyu was talking about the cooking reward, so she nodded and watched him return to the room.

When she turned around and looked at Ji Qingyuan beside her, she saw him looking at her with strange eyes.

“Ayue, you’re not really in love with my brother, are you?” Ji Qingyuan asked.