{Where did this little brat come from? So damn annoying! 3}

“The boss just said he forgot his meal card, but it turns out he lent it to Zhao Buhui. It seems he must have a pretty good relationship with Zhao,” Lin Mei’s friend struggled to hide her excitement, her expression lit up like she had discovered a treasure in the underwater world. “I just want to gossip a bit—does Zhao Buhui really not like women?”

“Ah?” Qian Xu was at a loss for words. “How would I know? Isn’t that a personal matter?”

“The only time Zhao Buhui was exposed by the media was when he played games with an esports player,” Lin Mei said, her face flushing from the excitement of gossip. “Back then, people speculated about his relationship with that esports player…”

Qian Xu really couldn’t disclose anything about someone she didn’t know much about. “This is the first time I’ve heard of all this. Why don’t you ask Zhao Buhui later?”

“But it wouldn’t be convenient for us to ask him!”

Lin Mei and her friend’s eyes sparkled with interest, as if they had caught hold of endless treasures and weren’t going to let go. “You’re the only connection we have among the upper management.”

Qian Xu, having been temporarily entrusted with this task, lived up to expectations. “Zhao Buhui.”

She called out to him.

The people at the neighboring table, who had initially hoped to witness the conflict between her and Zhao Buhui, saw that their relationship was completely different from what they had imagined. Before they could even finish their meal, they hurriedly cleared their dishes and left.

Zhao Buhui indeed heard her call.

He didn’t walk far; as soon as he heard her voice, he understood immediately, giving the illusion that he was already heading in her direction even without her calling.

“Everyone in the company is quite curious about you.”

“Is that so?”

The proud man leaned back in his light-colored upholstered chair, wearing an expression that said he had known all along and was the star of the company.

The attention didn’t make Zhao Buhui feel the slightest bit anxious.

On the contrary, he reveled in the adoration from his colleagues.

He even boldly declared that he didn’t care at all about the foundation laid by his father, directly “poaching” employees by saying, “If you’re really unhappy working for my dad, come find me at my company.”

If Qian Xu wasn’t mistaken, his father’s company was one of the top 500 in the country, while Zhao Buhui’s small businesses had yet to employ even fifty people as of today.

A normal person wouldn’t be completely oblivious to the need for compromise.

To leave behind the benefits and treatment at Zhao Tian Group in favor of the original boss’s son was unusual.

Thus, Qian Xu realized Zhao Buhui was in a desperate situation with no one supporting him. After hesitating for a moment but not too long, she expressed the group’s curiosity: “Zhao Buhui, everyone is quite curious—do you like women?”

Zhao Buhui, who was enjoying the taste of the sour fish, was suddenly interrupted by Qian Xu’s question.

It was a strange question.

Why would she ask if he liked women?

Could it be that Qian Xu was being pressured by a group of people at Zhao Tian Group, feeling discontent and looking for a backer, hence asking him whether he liked women, clearly trying to make a pitch for herself?

She might think that by being with him, she would gain some stability.

Moreover, he had just been boasting about the enterprises he had established under his name.

It was hard to believe that a normal woman wouldn’t be fascinated by that.

In his moment of surprise, Zhao Buhui unconsciously touched the warm meal card in his pocket, thinking that the other party would rather not borrow from anyone else than give him the card out of sheer determination. “Qian Xu, what I mean is, you’re a really nice person.”

Qian Xu finally experienced what it felt like to be “mysteriously perplexed.”

She simply asked if the man liked women; such a question was either black or white—wasn’t it easy to answer truthfully?

Moreover, in today’s socially tolerant culture, even if he were gay, no one would dare openly discriminate against him in his father’s company—

So why did he suddenly give her a “good person card”?

She hadn’t even confessed her feelings to him. Zhao Buhui didn’t have a terribly negative impression of Qian Xu; in fact, he found her quite different from many worldly women. However, if she wanted to get close to him, she absolutely couldn’t have any ulterior motives. He rejected her without a second thought: “I think you could easily establish yourself at Zhao Tian Group based on your own abilities.”

Qian Xu found herself at a loss for words.

“No,” she finally realized how Zhao Buhui had distorted and misunderstood what she had said. “I just meant to represent the other employees and ask if you’re gay?”

“?”

The straight man, Zhao Buhui, was completely astonished and unwilling to believe that this wasn’t a confession but rather a full-blown inquiry about his sexual orientation. His expression darkened. “Of course, I’m not.”

“I like women.”