{She glanced at the man’s abs. 2}

The person couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst out laughing, “Hahaha, it’s hard not to think that the Crown Prince is more interested in our company’s food!”

The others quickly agreed, and the gossip continued to revolve around Zhao Buhui.

An older employee, reminiscing about eight years ago, said, “You all joined later, so you probably don’t know. Let me tell you, Zhao Buhui has always loved eating. When he first came to his dad’s company eight years ago, he was really skinny. His face was gaunt, and his frame was thin. Sure, he was handsome, but he looked like a frail high school student. Now, though, after all these years, he’s bulked up quite a bit.”

“Sister Wang, do you have any photos of him from his high school days? Show us!” someone eagerly asked.

Qian Xu, who thought she had sworn off trivial human interests after waking from her personal nightmare, realized she was quite enjoying the gossip.

Snapping back to reality, she suddenly noticed that the person at the center of the gossip was standing right behind her.

Her expression instantly changed, “Do you need something?”

“I came to help you out last night out of kindness,” Zhao Buhui said, accusingly, “and this morning, you betrayed me?”

The air in the narrow hallway was already thin.

Qian Xu shifted to the other side, urging Zhao Buhui to lower his voice outside the break room. She began to defend herself, “Zhao Buhui, don’t you think I was actually looking out for you earlier? I called your dad so you wouldn’t have to eat that dry and tasteless breakfast.”

Maybe she had lingered a bit too long in the enjoyable gossip from earlier because Qian Xu didn’t even realize she was making such a joke.

Normally, her self-perception wasn’t far off from how others saw her—dull and uninteresting most of the time.

She had no idea why she suddenly wanted to get sarcastic in front of Zhao Buhui today.

Under normal circumstances, most people would be infuriated by such remarks.

But Zhao Buhui wasn’t mad; instead, he took her words seriously, firmly believing that this casual acquaintance of his was genuinely concerned about his breakfast. “Then next time, just lend me your employee card. No need to bother my dad.”

What?

Was he really taking her seriously?

Did he truly believe she was overstepping her boundaries to care for him?

Qian Xu was momentarily speechless, unable to come up with a way to reject him. She could only hear the man calmly conclude, “The cafeteria food has indeed been good these past two years. Compared to your job, I’m definitely more interested in the food.”

Although he didn’t fully ignore the gossip circulating about him, he seemed keen on clarifying, “But it’s not just from eating that I got strong. I’ve been consistently working out…”

Qian Xu’s grip on her thermos faltered for a second as she responded stiffly, “Got it.”

The young master, however, continued talking about his past workout routines, reminiscing out loud as he stared at the ceiling, “I think those people who rely solely on protein powder…”

Qian Xu watched as he nearly mocked the shortcut many men take when working out. Naturally, she asked him to his face, “Didn’t you take any?”

He answered candidly, “I did at one point.”