Chapter 47: Plan C-offee
"Good morning, everyone!" Feng Jiu happily skipped into the office. Xiao Yan then turned over to her and said, "Looks like you're in a good mood." Feng Jiu smiled brightly and replied, "Yeah! I just woke up feeling great. Hopefully, it will be a nice day at work too!" Then she softly hummed her favourite song, sat down on her desk and took out her laptop.
Lian Song walked into the office and then he walked over to Feng Jiu's workstation. "Morning, Feng Jiu!" She looked up and smiled brightly to him, "Oh, good morning, Lian Song! Are you here to find Si Ming?"
"Oh. She seems to be in a good mood, so it's a good time to ask her to switch places with me." Lian Song silently thought to himself. Then he replied, "Oh yes, I need to discuss with him regarding the project. I'm sure we would see each other more often from now on. By the way, would you mind letting me sit at your workstation today as well? I'm sorry to trouble you, but it's easier for me to liaise with Xiao Yan and Meng Shao."
Feng Jiu was in high spirits, and she didn't think Dong Hua would be in their office today, so she replied cheerfully, "Sure! No trouble at all, you can sit here for as long as you want. So I have to sit in the meeting room again, right?" Feng Jiu then started packing up her work stuff and headed over to the meeting room.
Feng Jiu sat at the same seat as yesterday, and then she stretched out both of her legs. "I actually like this meeting room. It's so comfortable and spacious!" Then she began spinning in her office chair, while happily humming her favourite tune. She had her back facing the door, and then she started singing and pretended to have a 'mini-concert' on her own. She held her fist up to her mouth, acting like it was a microphone. She also rolled her chair from one side to another, and she was having a lot of fun playing around and singing.
Right at this moment, Dong Hua walked into the office. He stood silently at the meeting room door and watched Feng Jiu having fun. He chuckled quietly upon seeing how silly she was. "She seems to be in a good mood. I wonder why." Dong Hua thought internally. Then he continued watching her and smiled to himself.
Feng Jiu suddenly felt like someone was staring at her, and she immediately turned around. She froze when she realized Dong Hua was watching her. She silently rolled her chair back to her seat and bowed her head in embarrassment. Then she said softly, "I'm sorry. I'll get back to work now."
Dong Hua walked in and sat at the other side of the table, then he replied softly, "It was cute." Feng Jiu immediately widened her eyes with shock, and she thought to herself, "Did he just call me cute? Wait, I must be hearing things." Then she began to type on her computer and started to get some work done.
"I praised her, and she ignored me? Did I say something wrong?" Dong Hua silently thought to himself. Then he also began to read some work documents.
Chong Lin knocked on the door and came walking in. He was also holding on to a big bag. "Leave it on the table. You can get back to your office now, and I'll be here the whole day." Dong Hua said to Chong Lin coldly.
"Yes, Sir. I'll head back to work immediately, is there anything else that I could help you with before I leave?" Chong Lin replied politely. "Yeah, shut the blinds before you leave." Dong Hua then pointed towards the glass panels. "I'll do so immediately." Then Chong Lin left the room after he was done shutting the blinds.
Feng Jiu looked up and peeped at Dong Hua. Upon noticing her looking at him, he immediately said, "Too bright." Feng Jiu smiled and replied, "I know." Then she glanced over to the big bag of stuff on his table and thought internally, "Hmm... I wonder what's in there." Then she told herself to mind her own business and went back to typing.
As she was in a good mood, she subconsciously started to hum a song again, and Dong Hua looked up and stared at her. Feng Jiu immediately felt embarrassed and stopped humming when she saw Dong Hua staring at her. Then she said softly, "I'm sorry. I'm just in a good mood, and sometimes I do that without realizing it." Dong Hua then smiled at her and replied, "It's fine. Continue humming if you want to. It's pleasant to my ears, and it's too quiet in here anyway."
Feng Jiu blushed and thought to herself, "Oh. He actually liked that? I guess there are still so many things about Dong Hua that I don't know about." Then she nodded her head lightly and gave a sweet smile.
"Oh? She smiled at me a lot today. That's different, but I like it." Dong Hua silently thought to himself. Suddenly, he felt a little peckish, and he opened the big bag and looked inside. Feng Jiu heard him unzipping the bag, and she peeped at what he was doing.
It turned out that the big bag was filled with all kinds of snacks. Chong Lin prepared it for Dong Hua because he would often go without meals when he gets too busy.
He laid out all the snacks on the table and Feng Jiu was secretly drooling, "That looks good. Ah! I want to eat it!" Then Dong Hua noticed her looking and asked calmly, "Are you eye-ing my snacks?" Feng Jiu instantly looked away and replied, "Huh? No. I'm busy at work." Dong Hua then gave a half-smile and replied, "If you say so." Then he started to open a bag of sour cream chips and started to enjoy it.
Feng Jiu's stomach then started to growl, and the sound of Dong Hua's munching on the chips was distracting her from her work. "Those are my favourite chips!" Then she pouted subtly and reminded herself that she had to focus on her work.
Dong Hua noticed Feng Jiu peeping over every few seconds, and he smiled to himself, "Silly girl. If she wants some chips, she could have just asked me for it." Then he asked again, "You sure you don't want any snacks?"
Feng Jiu immediately thought to herself, "Hmph! Dong Hua thinks he could bait me with snacks. I won't fall for it. He would probably tease me if he found out that I'm a glutton!" Then she shook her head and replied firmly, "No. I'm busy at work, and I'm not really into snacks." Dong Hua then replied nonchalantly "Okay then. But these snacks taste so good. Too bad you don't like snacks." And he opened a few bags of snacks and started to munch on them loudly.
Feng Jiu's stomach started growling loudly, and she clenched her stomach, trying to hide the sound. Dong Hua noticed her doing that, and he said loudly to himself, "Oh, I have too many snacks, and I can't finish them by myself. Guess I have to throw them away, such a waste." Feng Jiu eyes instantly lit up, and she exclaimed, "Throw them?! Such a waste!" Dong Hua then pursed his lips and nodded his head, "Yeah. Nobody wants to eat them anyway."
Feng Jiu immediately replied, "I'll eat them!" Dong Hua then smiled to himself, "Glutton." Feng Jiu quickly realized that she was showing her true colours as a glutton and she immediately added on, "I'm only helping you eat it because I don't want it to go to waste. We shouldn't waste food." Dong Hua then nodded his head slightly and replied, "Glad that you wanted to eat them, so we don't have to waste food."
Then Dong Hua added on, "Come sit over here so that we can share the snacks." Feng Jiu immediately packed up her stuff and rolled her chair over to Dong Hua's side. Dong Hua then handed her the chips and said, "Eat as much as you want."
"I'm not a glutton! I'm only helping you out!" Feng Jiu exclaimed. And Dong Hua calmly replied, "Oh? I didn't say you were a glutton. I only said to eat as much as you want." Feng Jiu immediately bowed her head and thought to herself, "I fell into his trap and admitted that I'm a glutton! Forget it, at least I get to eat those snacks now!" Then she replied to Dong Hua, "Hmph!" and then she started to munch on the snacks.
"Mmmm! This rice cracker is really nice!" Feng Jiu said happily, and she couldn't stop eating the snacks.
"Some of the snacks are imported from Japan. Do you like them?" Dong Hua asked. "Yes! I love it, it's so good!" Then she smiled sweetly at Dong Hua.
"Oh? She likes snacks. Maybe I'll get Chong Lin to prepare some for her next time.
Feng Jiu ate happily and continued working. Dong Hua held out his hand to grab some snacks from the packet. He was so focused on reading his work documents, and he didn't notice that Feng Jiu's hand was in the packet as well. Dong Hua then accidentally touched Feng Jiu's hand, and she immediately retracted her hand.
She blushed and apologized, "I'm so sorry!" Then she bowed her head and thought to herself, "Oh my god! Dong Hua just held on to my hand. My heart can't handle this." Then she tried to remain calm.
Dong Hua also apologized, and he thought to himself "I just touched her hand... It's so soft, but her hands felt so cold at the same time."
Then he stood up and walked to a corner, and then he called Chong Lin on the phone. "Tell the management to adjust the room temperature in the meeting room. It's too cold here."
Feng Jiu overheard Dong Hua telling Chong Lin to adjust the room temperature, and she thought to herself, "Is he doing this for me since he felt my cold hands just now?" Then she looked at Dong Hua, and he immediately replied, "I'm feeling cold."
Feng Jiu then thought to herself, "I knew it. Of course, he's only doing it for himself. Why would he even care about me? But... This Ice block is actually feeling cold?!" Then she started to giggle to herself. Dong Hua then looked at her with his side-eyes, and thought to himself, "She must be thinking about silly things again."
Soon, it was lunch-time. Dong Hua ordered Chong Lin in the morning, to cater lunch Bentos for everyone in the office. Feng Jiu happily hopped her way to the pantry and collected her lunch bento.
Everyone sat at their own desks to eat their lunch, and Feng Jiu finished her lunch in the pantry. After she finished eating, she rested in the pantry for a while until her lunch-time was over. Then she noticed that Dong Hua didn't eat his lunch yet. Feng Jiu then took the last bento and walked into the meeting room.
"You're not eating?" She asked Dong Hua. He looked up at her and replied, "I skip lunch sometimes when I'm busy at work."
Feng Jiu then walked over to Dong Hua and put the bento on the table. Then she took the work documents away from his hands, and replied, "You need to eat no matter how busy you are. If you keep skipping meals, it will affect your health."
Dong Hua then smiled at Feng Jiu and said, "Oh? You're worried about my health now?" In his heart, he felt touched that someone actually cared about him. Feng Jiu then replied sarcastically, "If you die, then I'll lose my job. And if I lose my job, I'll have no money. So eat now." Then she shifted Dong Hua's laptop and documents out of the way so that he had space to eat.
"Bossy, huh? Who's the boss now?" Dong Hua smirked, and then he sat up straight and picked up the chopsticks. Feng Jiu then replied proudly, "You're the boss of Tai Chen Group, but I'm the boss of food!"
Feng Jiu then stared at Dong Hua, making sure he eats his bento. "I'm watching you." She said. "Fine. fine. You win, I'll eat now." Dong Hua then started to eat his lunch. "Good." She replied and then she began to do some work.
Although Feng Jiu ate a whole lunch bento 30 minutes ago, she was still feeling a little hungry. The smell of food then made her even more hungry. "Stop thinking of food, Feng Jiu! You just ate not long ago. But... that bento wasn't even enough to fill me up!"
Dong Hua then heard Feng Jiu's stomach growling. "Now I know why she's a Competitive Eater. That bento wouldn't be enough for her. We also ran out of snacks. Should I offer my food to her?" He pondered.
Then he decided to offer his food to her, "You want some of my food?" He asked casually. Feng Jiu immediately got defensive and thought to herself, "What would Dong Hua think of me if I accepted it? I'm sure he would think I'm a glutton and a big eater. I mean, I am one, but I don't want to show this side of me to him!" Then she replied calmly, "No. I'm not hungry at all."
Her stomach started to growl even louder. And Dong Hua sarcastically said, "Your stomach says otherwise." Then he picked up a piece of pork rib and tried to feed Feng Jiu with it. She immediately felt embarrassed and pushed his hand away. "I don't want it!"
The pork rib then flew onto Dong Hua's white shirt and caused a stain on it. Feng Jiu immediately apologized, and she took out the wet tissue from her purse.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that, and I just didn't want you to know that I'm a glutton and a big eater." She accidentally blurted out her real thoughts because she was busy wiping the stain off his shirt. Dong Hua then looked at her cleaning his shirt and thought to himself, "Silly girl. What's wrong with having a big appetite? I think it's great that she eats a lot, at least it's far better than those girls who only eats salad. How boring that would be."
Feng Jiu frowned because the stain wasn't coming off his shirt. "I'm so sorry. The stain isn't coming off. Tell me how much this shirt costs, and I'll pay for it!" Dong Hua then smiled and replied, "This would probably cost you three months of your salary." Feng Jiu then widened her eyes with shock, "3...3 months?!" And she knitted her eyebrows and did mental calculations in her mind. "Hmm... If I scrimp and save, I still won't be able to have enough to pay him back. Maybe I can work extra hours?"
Dong Hua then laughed out and said, "I'm just kidding. You don't have to pay me back anything. It's just a shirt." Feng Jiu immediately replied, "No! I insist! But would it be okay if I did installments?"
"Installments? Do you think I own the bank?" He replied with a grin, and in his mind, he was thinking, "How cute. But I'm also impressed that she insisted on paying me back, as most girls wouldn't do that. Maybe I could ask her for something else?"
"If you insist, maybe we can work something out." Dong Hua said.
"Yes. I'm open to negotiations." Feng Jiu acted all professional and then Dong Hua also replied professionally, "Let's see. According to the price of this shirt, it would probably take you a year or more to pay me back if you did it by installments. I have a proposal for you to consider."
"Tell me more about your proposal. If both parties came to an agreement, we could sign the contract immediately." Feng Jiu replied sternly.
"My proposal is... Instead of paying me back for this shirt, how about you make me a cup of coffee every morning? I don't need the money anyway."
Feng Jiu pondered, "Hmm... Attractive offer. Making coffee isn't hard, and I don't have to pay a cent. There's no reason to reject it." Then she stood up and held out her hand to shake Dong Hua's hand, and then she said, "You got yourself a deal."
Dong Hua then stood up and shook her hand formally. "Pleasure to do business with you."
Then Feng Jiu broke out into laughter, and Dong Hua had a wide smile on his face.
Right at this moment, Feng Jiu heard Ji Heng's voice, and it seemed that she was walking towards their way. The door was left wide open, and Feng Jiu was worried that Ji Heng would see them together. Although she liked Dong Hua, she knew that it wasn't right to come in between a couple.
Feng Jiu immediately ducked down and hid under the table. "Why are you hiding?" She then quickly shushed Dong Hua and told him to pretend that she's not there.
Ji Heng's voice was getting louder, and it appeared that she was standing outside the meeting room. Feng Jiu peeped at the door, trying to see if Ji Heng is still there. Dong Hua then bent over to look at Feng Jiu, "What are you doing? Come out!"
"Shhh!!" She shushed him again. Then she decided to pull Dong Hua down from his chair and told him to hide with her. She also used her hand to cover his mouth, preventing him from making any sounds. Dong Hua then sat on the carpeted floor beside her, and he felt confused and amused at the same time.
Feng Jiu slowly peeped out from under the table and then she noticed Ji Heng walking past the meeting room. Ji Heng looked into the meeting room, trying to see if Dong Hua was around. Then she left after realizing that the room was 'empty'.
After Ji Heng left, Feng Jiu finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, we are safe now." Dong Hua then looked at her and replied, "Why are we even hiding?"
Feng Jiu then casually replied, "I don't want Ji Heng to misunderstand our relationship." Dong Hua then asked confusedly, "What does this have to do with Ji Heng?"
Feng Jiu then thought to herself, "Maybe he's just shy to admit his feelings for Ji Heng. I guess it wouldn't be nice to expose him." Then she replied to Dong Hua, "Never mind. I'll just continue to do my work."
Then she started to crawl out from under the table, but Dong Hua pulled her back under the table. Then he pinned her against the table leg, stared deep into her eyes and asked, "So tell me... Are you so afraid of others seeing us together?"
Feng Jiu froze and blushed so hard. She also didn't know how to react, with Dong Hua being so close to her. She thought to herself, "Why is Dong Hua looking at me this way? Stop looking at me with those eyes. I'm afraid that I won't be able to resist you." Then she immediately pushed Dong Hua away and crawled out of the table, without saying a word.
Dong Hua felt a little hurt because Feng Jiu pushed him away. "Why am I feeling this way? I'm the cold and aloof Dong Hua that everyone feared, and I shouldn't be feeling this way." Then he got out from under the table and went out of the meeting room to clear his thoughts.
Feng Jiu sat on her chair, thinking, "That was close. I almost lost control of myself back there. Luckily I reacted fast and pushed him away. I can't have any more false hopes." Then she tried to distract herself by working.
Dong Hua then headed to his private washroom and splashed his face with water. Then he held his palm up to his chest and felt his pounding heart. He was battling with his emotions, and he didn't know how to handle them.
"Is this what 'love' feels like?"
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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