Chapter 51 – Did you miss me?

Z

henqing remained impa.s.sive as he

said calmly, ‘Print another copy, please.’

‘Yes,’ she replied.

She quickly returned with a fresh

print.

Zhengqing swept through the

doc.u.ment once more and firmly signed his own name. He handed the folder back to

his secretary, his expression closed, impa.s.sive and serious. His secretary dare

not break out in a smile.

When she got to the door, she took

a glance back at him and saw him run a hand tiredly across his face. She left

the office, closed the door and burst out in silent laughter; causing everyone

to wonder what was going on.

Soon, the whole company knew. Their perfect vice-president made a mistake.

A man in love is really cute, ah!

That afternoon he got a call from

Yin Ting;

‘I heard you did something cute

today,’ she said brightly.

Zhengqing frowned blackly; his

intuition told him that she knew about the matter. She was a thousand miles

away; how come?

‘When are you getting back?’ he

asked darkly ignoring her question.

‘You actually wrote my name instead

of signing yours; too cute!’ Yin Ting said ignoring his question, exposing his

embarra.s.sment.

His face was hot, and he wanted to

argue, but instead he asked, ‘Did you place an informer in my company or did

you bribe my secretary?’

Yin Ting laughed, ‘Yufei told me,’

That pregnant woman was not at

work, how did she get the gossip?!

‘Her father’s secretary told her.’

Wen Yi’s secretary was upstrairs!

Zhengqing sighed and propped his

forehead on his hand, ‘Do I need to eliminate a potential informant?’

Yin Ting laughed, ‘Regent[1], you’re

so cute.’

‘Don’t flatter me, when are you

coming back?’ he said. His heart was roaring, how could she decide that ‘cute’

was an appropriate praise for a proper gentleman like himself?

‘Did you keep the doc.u.ment? Send me

a pic. It would be my proof that you treasure me, I will have it framed.’

‘I am not taking a picture of

confidential company doc.u.ments,’ he said indignantly.

‘Just the signature bit, hmmm?’

‘It is now in the shredder,’ he

replied. Truthfully, it was in his drawer so he would not have to look at his

embarra.s.sing mistake.

‘When are you coming back?’ he

asked again gruffly.

But Yin Ting wasn’t nervous; she

laughed and said, ‘Tomorrow.’

‘Really?’ Such a good thing,

Zhengqing was afraid to believe in it. There might be another obstacle, ‘Will

we be able to meet?’

‘We can meet, ah,’ she replied, ‘I

have a friend’s wedding party to go to. She and her husband are going to on honeymoon

to Greece next week. So they have arranged a banquet for their friends. We will go

together.’

Zhengqing was disgruntled, ‘So

you’re only coming back early for your friend’s party?’

‘I am not. Dad originally wanted to

come back the day after tomorrow, but I convinced him that I needed to be there

for my friend’s joyous occasion. That’s why he agreed.’

(Zuben: how is this not…)

Zhengqing’s heart was sour,

‘Doesn’t that mean you came back early for your friend?’

‘It is still a day early.’

Zhengqing pursed his lips, he

wanted to ask why it wasn’t for him she was coming back ahead of time, but he

endured, he didn’t want to seem petty.

‘So are you going to come with me?’ she asked tentatively.

Zhenqing hesitated; he did not like

lively occasions and he did not know Yin Ting’s friends. Last time, at Yufei

and Yingjie’s party, he felt no meaning.

‘Come with me,’ she coaxed, ‘I want

to introduce you to my friends. I want to show off my boyfriend to everyone.’

‘What time does your train arrive?’

he asked.

‘Just after seven,’

‘Seven PM?’

‘Yes,’

Zhengqing frowned, they wouldn’t

have much time together before they would have to go to her friends party. He

was very upset.

‘Fine, I will go,’ he said, if only

to see her. If she went by herself it would be a waste. In addition, she

wasn’t good on trains, so he worried that her spirits would be low when she arrived and there

would be no one to drive her home after the party. So he will go with her so his mind could be

at ease.

‘Yay! Very good,’ she said happily,

‘Can I also ask you to buy a gift and card for me? They only told me about the

party yesterday because they married hastily. I'd have prepared something myself,’

Zhengqing sighed inwardly and

asked, ‘What would you like me to buy?’

She told him and he wrote down her

specifications.

‘On the card, write: Happy Married

Life, grow old well together and write your name and mine. Actually just sign

your name I will write mine,’

‘Alright,’

‘Or you can wait for me and we can

sign together, I am scared that you will write the wrong name on the card,’ she

said laughing.

‘Haha, very funny,’ he replied

drily.

‘Yes,’

Zhengqing rubbed his forehead, this

feeling of being teased made him feel a tad helpless. It was a bit sad and a

bit sweet.

That night, Zhengqing did not leave

work early. He had dinner in the office, finished up some more work, then

proceed to leave. He was going to go to the mall first before heading home.

The elevator doors opened and Qin

Wen Yi and three other Executives were in the elevator. Zhengqing stepped in

and they greeted each other.

The doors closed and the elevator made

its was down

Wen Yi asked, ‘Zhengqing ah,

Xiaoting hasn’t come back home yet?’

Zhengqing nearly chocked on his

saliva, but he coughed and replied, ‘She says she will be back tomorrow,’

‘Oh, tomorrow will come soon, and

you can see her,’ Wen Yi said jocularly, and the other three execs laughed.

Zhengqing felt a blush creep up his

cheeks. He kept his eyes on the elevator panel counting the floors as they went

down.

Wen Yi patted his shoulder, ‘A good

man with a good home, will be successful in his career.’

Zhengqing agreed awkwardly. He

thought of Yin Guohao, who gave it all up at the height of his career. Was it

because he did not have a good home?

The elevator came to its stop;

before Wen Yi left he said to Zhengqing, ‘Get Xiaoting to come and let’s have

dinner sometime.’

‘Yes,’ Zhengqing said. The execs

smiled knowingly at him, Zhengqing smiled back somewhat irritably.

As he drove, he suddenly thought

that this feeling was a good thing; though he was somewhat embarra.s.sed, but

everyone was teasing because they recognised that he and Yin Ting were a pair.

(Ziben: No it’s because you’re usually so serious and straight-laced, it is

amusing to see you ‘all of a doodah’)

The world knew what Yin Ting was

his girlfriend. Soon she would be his wife. The thought name him very happy.

Going to Yin Ting’s friend’s party

is not too bad, he decided. Though he surely would find it boring, he would

forebear.

When he bought the present, he sent

Yin Ting a picture and called her to confirm,

‘Very good,’ she said, ‘I am glad I

could depend on you for this important task,’

Zhengqing laughed. He really loved

this feeling. He wasn’t just good for dating.

The next day, Zhengqing dressed

with even more care than usual, (Zuben: Not the Asian staple: The s.h.i.+ny silver-grey suit, I hope)

hoping to leave a good impression on Yin Ting’s friends. After work, he drove

to Yin Ting’s father’s house and waited for her, they must be having dinner

together. While he waited, he got a phone call from an unfamiliar number. He

answered,

‘Uncle please be more serious, it

is Xiao s.h.i.+tou!’

‘Xiao s.h.i.+tou!’ he called his heard

scared, ‘Is something wrong?’ he had given her the number incase of emergency,

he hadn’t thought the emergency would occur so quickly.

s.h.i.+ Liang laughed, ‘No trouble, I

am in the teacher’s office, she allowed me to phone you. I wanted to say thank

you to Shushu.’

‘Why are you thanking me?’

Zhengqing did not know he’d done anything recently worthy of being thanked.

‘That grandmother that sold

eggcakes – she met a good person,’ s.h.i.+ Liang said joyously, ‘The day after you

came, Tingting-jie called to ask

about the situation, and then she put it on her blog. A lot of people came to

buy grandmother’s egg cakes, so grandmother can finish early and go and look

after grandfather. Today, grandmother waited for me at the gates to thank me.

She said that a noodle selling uncle is giving her some s.p.a.ce in his kiosk so

she can sell there out of the weather. When someone comes to buy noodles, they

may also want eggcakes as well. She doesn’t have to worry much anymore. Shushu, isn’t that noddle-shushu a good man?’

‘Yes, ah,’ Zhengqing said smiling,

‘he is a good man.’ He would never have been able to think of this. Yin Ting

was so thoughtful, she went out there and got the world to help, and now the

old lady had a chance to meet someone who would a.s.sist her.

‘I am very happy, but I do not have

a telephone, could only wait to borrow the telephone to call you. But I also

want to tell Tingting-jie and every

one.’

Zhengqing heart turned to mush as

Xiao s.h.i.+tou’s words, ‘Tingting-jie is back, Shushu will tell her.’

‘Thank you, Shushu,’ s.h.i.+ Liang

said, ‘When I grow up I want to be a good man.’

‘You already are, Xiao s.h.i.+tou,’

The little girl laughed shyly, ‘I

must go now,’

‘Alright, when I am free I will

come and see you with Tingting-jie.’

‘Good.’ She said happily.

They said their goodbyes.

Zhengqing went onto Yin Ting’s

blog. She hadn’t updated in the last few days so he hadn’t been paying

attention to her blog, so he had missed the post regarding the eggcake lady.

Many people responded to the post.

As he read the blog, he heard Yin

Ting call. He looked up to see her running towards him, her beautiful face

aglow. His heart felt warm.

Some people glow, and they are able

to pa.s.s their warmth to thers. Yin Ting was that kind of person.

As she jumped into the car, she

asked brightly, ‘Please be more serious, did you miss me?’

Zhengqing’s answer was to pull her to him and kiss her. The gentle kiss lasted for several seconds. He pulled back; Yin

Ting’s cheeks were pink and her eyes were bright.

He groaned and pulled her back to

him; he parted her lips and kissed her deeply.

pintrest

Chapter 52 – War of the Bouquet

T

he kiss was long. When it was over,

Yin Ting’s face was red and eyes were even brighter. Zhengqing looked at her

hotly, and Yin Ting could not bear it – wanted to kiss him more, but Zhengqing

suddenly became serious as he said, ‘You should sit in the back, I won’t be

able to concentrate on driving.’

Yin Ting laughed and patted his arm

charmingly.

Zhengqing sighed. She smiled and

give him a quick peck on the lips, ‘Drive quickly, or we’ll be late.’

‘Say something to calm me down,’ he

requested.

‘Do you have the doc.u.ment that you

signed wrong?’ she asked, ‘I want to see it with my own two eyes.’

‘Good, that calms me down.’

She laughed and said, ‘You were

wondering if I had bribed your secretary? Maybe I should, so that whenever you

do something cute again, I will be first to know.’

‘He is very calm now,’ he said as

he started the car and drove.

As they drove, Zhengqing told her

of Xiao s.h.i.+tou/s.h.i.+ Liang’s call, she was pleasantly surprised, ‘I had thought

to find a permanent solution when I came back; a solution that the old lady can

accept without compromising her pride. I hadn’t realised that noodle-shushu had done it. He really is a good

person. I am so touched.’

Zhengqing smiled.

‘But it cannot compare with you

signing my name on a doc.u.ment.’

Zhengqing smile dropped and he

coughed.

‘My brother is also at this party.’

‘Um,’ Zhengqing nodded, ‘is he here

for a reason?’

‘No, he was invited and I asked him to look after you,’ she said sweetly, ‘I just

afraid that I will get pulled away by my friends and you will be bored. So my

brother is there to keep you company.’

‘…’ what a good hearted

brother-in-lw, he thought, but he was not a child, he did not need other to

accompany him.

‘And May will also be there.’

‘Oh,’ what did that have to do with

anything? She was simply a familiar pa.s.ser-by to him.

‘Why don’t you ask me what’s

wrong?’

‘What is there to ask? I have

nothing to do with her.’

‘Wasn’t she after you?’

Zhengqing sighed, ‘What do you want

to say then?’

‘I will tell her we’re dating, I

just want you to be prepared.’

‘Oh,’

‘Don’t be complacent,’ she said,

‘she will take the chance to ridicule us,’

‘Okay,’ why should he care about

the behaviour of people who were irrelevant? ‘I am not dating you on a whim;

it was well thought out.’

‘Stop the car; there,’ she cried

suddenly.

Zhengqing was a bit afraid and

quickly did as she bid, ‘What’s the matter?’

Yin Ting jumped from her seat and

hugged him, ‘You’re so cool and handsome, I wanted to hug you.’

Zhengqing suddenly choked, ‘Act

with restraint, young lady,’ he said.

‘My boyfriend is too loveable, even

when he’s restrained.’

Zhengqing replied, ‘My girlfriend

is too cute, I would like to take her home and take advantage of her. Is it

okay if she doesn’t see her friends?’

She blushed and gently hit him,

‘Don’t make trouble. Drive on, we’re late.’

‘Who told me to stop?’ he replied

as he put the car into gear and drove on.

‘I shall act with restraint,’ she

said.

‘Hm,’ he replied.

‘Regent, I really like you ah.’ She

said. (Zuben: Not as much as he does you)

He smiled, ‘If you keep talking

like that I will just take you home.’

Yin Ting was quiet for a bit, then

she said, ‘I am telling the truth,’

Zhengqing was quiet for a moment

and said, ‘I am also telling the truth, I really want to take you home.’

He turned to her and their gazes

locked. His heart beat hard in his chest, she blushed. Zhengqing quickly turned

back to the road.

It was silent in the car for a

time, then Yin Ting muttered, ‘Yellow, yellow. Be careful or my dad will cut off

your legs, oh.’

‘Which leg?’  he asked.

‘I have determined that your words

are coloured. You have failed.’

‘I meant right or left leg, what is

coloured about that?’

Yin Ting did not speak. He heaved a

deep sigh and said, ‘You!’

‘What?’

‘What is in this brain of yours?’

‘Thoughts!’

He laughed inspite of himself, her

thoughts were the same as her life: colourful.

Before long, they arrived at the

party. They signed the card and got the gifts; one from Yin Ting and one from

her father.

As they entered the venue, Yin Ting

asked him, ‘Can you summarise our conversation?’ She looked very happy, she

wanted to record it in the diary, but could not think of how to summarise it.

‘Modesty and restraint…?’

Yin Ting laughed, she laughed so

hard she could not walk. She held on to his arm as she laughed. He stood with

her resigned, yet smiling at her.

‘Look who it is, looking so happy,’

a voice called out mockingly. Shen Jiaqi gracefully walked up to them.

‘h.e.l.lo, Shen-zong.’ Zhengqing

greeted politely.

Jiaqi smiled with a smile,

‘Qiu-zong.’ She turned to Yin Ting and pinched her cheeks, ‘You are late, but

smiling like an idiot. Arlene is going to scold you,’

‘How come?’ Yin Ting replied

batting Jiaqi’s hands away, ‘I tried hard to be here.’

Jiaqi smiled, ‘You’re s.n.a.t.c.hing the

spotlight by showing off your love at her party. She will scold you.’

‘You’re quite bothersome,’ she

said. Jiaqi laughed. Two young women ran up to Yin Ting andJiaqi, ‘May, you’re

here! We’ve been looking all over for you. Xiaoting, you have arrived. Good.

Hurry, we’re taking a group picture. Arlene said that anyone who’s not here,

she doesn’t want to know.’ They said rapidly and they dragged the two women

with them.

‘Wait,’ Yin Ting said and she ran

back to him, ‘I’ll be back soon. Look for my brother.’ She said and she was

dragged off.

He stared after her dumbly; a group of

young ladies had good manners in appeareance, but have terrible manners. They

can steal the gift, but why steal his girlfriend?

Zhengqing unhappily went to look

for Yin s.h.i.+. They found each other and greeted each other with a perfunctionary

wave,

‘I saw Yin Ting being dragged away

as you entered. She told me to come to you.’ 

Yin s.h.i.+ said.

‘They are usually like this when

they get together,’ he continued, ‘noisy, rude and thoughtless. Don’t mind it,

ah.’

‘It’s alright,’ Zhengqing said. As

long as this wasn’t a regular occurance, and he only had to accompany her on

occasion; he could tolerate it.

With Yin s.h.i.+, Zhengqing found the

gift booth and then they went to find seats. There were a few people chatting

where they had chosen to sit and Yin s.h.i.+ made polite conversation and

introduced Zhengqing. They began to eat together. Someone offered Zhengqing

some wine but he declined, saying he was driving. There was an awkward silence

round the table but Yin s.h.i.+ smoothed things over, saying, ‘It’s all good. It’s

all good. We don’t need to drink wine,’ and he got some orange juice for

Zhengqing.

Zhengqing relaxed, Yin Ting was

really thoughtful. He was glad he had Yin s.h.i.+ to accompany him and bridge the

gap between him and the others.

There were lots of conversations

going on but Zhengqing did not join in, so Yin s.h.i.+ chatted to him;

‘My shop is doing okay,’

‘That’s good to hear,’ he replied

politely.

‘My little sister, she’s a weirdo

and quite stupid. You will forgive her,’

‘No. she’s quite clever, and quick

to react, she sometimes reacts faster then I do.’ Zhengqind said drily.

Yin s.h.i.+ was surprised. ‘Please

pardon her.’ Then he continued, ‘She has many faults, along with her flighty

nature, always forgetful. Usually thoughtless...’

‘She’s not really. She’s very

thoughtful in many things, and looks at things from a different perspective

from the rest of us.’

Yin s.h.i.+ was surprised, but said,

‘Please pardon her.’

Zhengqing smiled.

‘She’s so wilful as well, and

emotional, very tempremental when she doesn’t get her way.’

‘I think she had a strong

character, I have no issues with her temperament. She’s also positive and

optimistic.’

Were they talking about the same

person here?

‘She’s my girlfriend, don’t criticise

her too much okay?’

She’s my younger sister, Yin s.h.i.+

thought. The friends.h.i.+p of men is build from gossiping and making fun of their

womenfolk. Yin s.h.i.+ looked at Zhengqing, his elite aura was overwhelming. They were

in a lively bar, but next to him; it was like being in a conference room.

He finally understood why his

sister called Zhenging “Please be more serious” ah. He needed someone like his

sister to help him loosen up, and have fun. How did this type of person climb

up to the position of Vice President? (Zuben: By being serious?)

‘I’m here!’ Yin Ting appeared

finally. Yin s.h.i.+ relaxed, he was happy to hand her boyfriend back to her, but

someone called, ‘Xiaoting! Xiaoting!’

Yin Ting turned to the voices, two

ladies came up, ‘We’re making Arlene throw a bouquet. She wasn’t going to, but

we convinced her! She said she’d do it after dinner.’

Yin Ting’s eyes lit up, ‘A bouquet!

I want! I want!’ She really wanted to get married; she now has a candidate, all

that is left is luck and timing. (Zuben: And your dad agreeing)

‘Everyone wants!’ the sisters

said.

‘I’m going to get it!’ she turned to

Zhengqing and Yin s.h.i.+, ‘I’m going, ah!’ and ran off with the two sisters. In

the middle of the dance-floor, the bride stood surrounded by her friends holding

a bunch of flowers.

The rest of the guests came over to

watch. Yin Ting was very enthusiastic, hopping and shouting, ‘Arlene, thow it

to me!’

‘Here this side,’ someone

countered.

Yin s.h.i.+ covered his eyes in shame.

His sister only just got a boyfriend; she already wants to marry him! But this doesn’t

affect him, but the boyfriend. He turned to find that Zhengqing was gone.

The bride threw the bouquet; it

flew up in an impressive arc, causing everyone to gasp, ‘Wow!’

As it completed its journey, a long

suited arm reached out and grabbed it.

Qiu Zhengqing!

Yin s.h.i.+ almost fell out of his

chair. This was more disgraceful than his sister!

The audience was silent.

Yin Ting rushed to him.

Jiaqi shouted from her position, ‘You actually joined

the women to grab the bouquet?!’

Yin Ting reached his side, he did

not pay Jiaqi any mind as he handed the bouquet to Yin Ting, ‘You’re mine, so

the effect it the same, right?’

Yin Ting blushed furiously and took

the bouquet. Everyone began to boo; there was mayhem among the young ladies.

Jiaqi came up to them and asked her gaze incredulous, ‘You actually stood with

a bunch of women and fought for the bouquet?!’

Zhengqing turned to her and replied

solemnly, ‘I just stood at the edge and reached for it.’ He did not squeeze, he

did not push, just used the advantage of his height and length of his arm. He had no reason not to help his girlfriend get the bouquet.

Under the watchful eyes of the

crowd, Yin Ting became self-conscious and shy, so she hid behind Zhengqing, holding her bouquet. Jiaqi rolled up her sleeves menacingly, ‘Xiaoting, stop

hiding and come out,’ Followed by laughter and tears of the women.

Yin Ting did not dare come out from

the shelter of Zhengqing. Zhengqing turned and put his arm around her. A gaggle

of young ladies came up to them and asked him to pay for his trespa.s.s. Zhenqing

did not move.

Jiaqi shouted, ‘Qiu zong, I am

going to pursue you again. Do you have time?’

Zhengqing did not hesitate in

saying, ‘No I don’t have time.’

The crowd burst out laughing.

Yin s.h.i.+ covered his face, these two

are making him lose face. These two are not considering the pride of their

loved ones, ah!

Zuben: Yay for exciting chapters! I was enjoy this so much for a change, I finished in four hours! I

guess I’m now going to pay for such excitement with tedious chapters. Off to play Monster Hunter Online! Happy

Sunday, peeps! Pardon the typos. I tried hard to double and triple check.