The man, handso as ever, cast a fleeting glance at the steaming food just taken from the microwave in his hand, but his face remained expressionless, almost so gloomy that it could drip water. His thin lips were tightly pursed, yet he didn’t speak or acknowledge Assistant Xue, instead heading straight towards the elevator.
Just by being glanced at so indifferently by Lu Jingchen, Assistant Xue felt a cold wind rush into his body through his collar, instantly causing goosebumps to rise all over, making him feel uneasy.
That involuntary shiver deep in his subconscious made him acutely aware, ’Whenever the president gives this look, it’s a sure sign that nothing good is about to happen.’
This was the wisdom born from Assistant Xue’s personal experience over many years.
This ti, he didn’t care about the freshly heated, steaming, fragrant food and imdiately placed it on a table nearby before quickly following along.
When Lu Jingchen walked to the elevator, he saw the president’s exclusive elevator still stationed on the first floor, probably because Murong Rui had used it earlier without returning it, as no one else in the company would dare to use this elevator.
anwhile, the employee elevator on the other side happened to be a couple of floors below, so he didn’t wait for the exclusive elevator to co up, walking directly to the employee elevator instead.
When Assistant Xue arrived, he happened to see Lu Jingchen entering the elevator. He quickly approached with what he thought was a perfect smile and said, "President, are you off work?"
Lu Jingchen pressed the elevator’s close button, looked indifferently at Assistant Xue, and instead of answering the question, said, "Get in, take to the night market."
Assistant Xue was stunned for a mont, instinctively asking, "Is the president going to the night market in the city center? Or do you have sothing you want to buy? I can actually help you buy it..."
Hearing Assistant Xue’s words, Lu Jingchen slightly furrowed his brow and, instead of answering, asked back, "Are there many night markets in An City?"
Assistant Xue paused and carefully counted the night markets he knew of, which totaled seven or eight of various sizes. Nodding, he said, "There are quite a few night markets of different sizes in An City. Which one do you want to go to?"
Lu Jingchen’s brow furrowed even deeper, and his expression grew darker and more overcast, but he didn’t imdiately answer Assistant Xue’s question, "Are you coming in or not?"
Assistant Xue felt another chilling breeze sweep down his collar, and this ti, without any hesitation, he stepped into the elevator.
The elevator descended steadily, but suddenly stopped on the seventeenth floor. When the doors opened, two young won in work attire stood there, their shoulders slung with satchels and carrying laptop bags, apparently in conversation.
Assistant Xue recognized them imdiately as company employees. He didn’t speak, rely standing there behind Lu Jingchen like a bodyguard.
The two young won turned at the sound of the elevator opening, and upon seeing Lu Jingchen and Assistant Xue inside, they were imdiately startled.
Seeing Assistant Xue in the employee elevator wasn’t surprising; what was shocking was the presence of Lu Jingchen, which left them too frightened to move.
Lu Jingchen looked at the two female employees standing there in disbelief, slightly furrowing his brow. His voice was so low that it carried no emotion, "Aren’t you coming in?"
He recalled that the seventeenth floor was where the design departnt was, and these two should be designers.
The two female employees snapped out of it imdiately, with one of them smiling and nodding quickly, "We’re coming..."
Saying that, she pulled her colleague and they both stepped into the elevator.
Once they got in, Lu Jingchen pressed the button to close the elevator doors, holding his freshly taken-out phone while composing a ssage to send to ’Big Nephew’.
Rong Yue stood just a step behind Lu Jingchen, looking up, her cautious gaze falling on the man. Even though she could only see his profile, she found herself instantly srized.
Though she was an employee of the company, she hadn’t seen much of Lu Jingchen—only three tis to be exact. Once when she saw him with Song Qiao at her rented place, and another when she caught sight of him and Assistant Xue entering through the main gate in the morning, even then she could only watch from afar.
And now, this was the third ti.
Noticing soone staring at him, Lu Jingchen turned his head slightly towards Rong Yue. Upon seeing the nearly infatuated look on Rong Yue’s face, he couldn’t help but furrow his brow, a trace of displeasure showing on his face.
He never liked being stared at in such a manner, finding it extrely impolite, and clearly, Rong Yue had made this very mistake.
When Rong Yue saw Lu Jingchen turn around, her heart couldn’t help but skip a beat. But when she saw the displeasure on Lu Jingchen’s face, she imdiately shivered involuntarily, feeling as though her heart had stopped montarily, and her hands couldn’t help but beco a bit cold.
As soon as the elevator stopped at the underground parking lot, Lu Jingchen stepped out, with Assistant Xue following closely behind.
Rong Yue was still standing inside the elevator, finding it difficult to breathe. Watching Lu Jingchen’s departing figure, she suddenly recalled those past headlines and inexplicably felt sowhat unwilling to accept it.
After all, from any perspective, she was much better than Song Qiao, yet Lu Jingchen married a woman like Song Qiao.
Her female colleague next to her had also noticed Lu Jingchen’s cold glance at Rong Yue earlier. Once the sound of a car engine ca from the parking lot, she turned to Rong Yue and said, "Xiaoyue, why did the president look at you like that just now? Did you do sothing wrong?"
Song Yue snapped back to reality, turned her head to look at her colleague, and said while pursing her lips, "I was impolite just now, it’s nothing, let’s go."
"Oh!"
...
anwhile, at the night market, Lu Yulin was holding things in both hands, with a lamb skewer in one hand and grilled corn in the other, eating with great pleasure. Mu Shinian was holding two cups of bubble tea, eating a lamb skewer in a more refined manner, yet exuding a natural aristocratic aura, so he didn’t look out of place.
This was probably because Elder Mu taught him well.
Song Qiao was holding a cup of freshly bought passion fruit juice, sipping it slowly. Recently, she’d taken a liking to sour things, perhaps due to a certain reason, and the passion fruit juice wasn’t sour enough to make her teeth hurt. She had already finished one cup and was slowly drinking another.
Seeing Mu Shinian and Lu Yulin enjoying their food so much put a smile on her face, and she felt quite relieved.
The two kids genuinely seed to enjoy the night market. Perhaps because it was their first ti there, they had been wandering around everywhere, buying lots of cute and cheap trinkets.
Since tomorrow was Saturday, the night market was quite crowded, mostly with students or couples browsing around. Although Mu Shinian and Lu Yulin were not that young, Song Qiao still worried about them, keeping her eyes on them.
After Lu Yulin finished the lamb skewer in his hand, he looked over at a barbecue stand not far away and turned to ask Mu Shinian, "Do you want to eat barbecue?"
Mu Shinian followed his gaze and saw a street stand not far away. It was quite sizable, with over a dozen tables, and business was brisk. They could even sll the aroma of the barbecue from where they stood.
After hesitating for a while, seeing others enjoying their food, he nodded directly, "Yes!"
But after saying that, he hesitated again, "But cousin probably won’t let us eat those things, right? I tried once before, but Grandpa scolded afterward."
Seeing that Mu Shinian wanted to eat, Lu Yulin was already satisfied, placing a hand on his shoulder and smiling, "Don’t worry, second aunt will definitely agree. Just wait for a bit."
With that, he directly walked over to Song Qiao and Chu Munan.
Standing in front of Song Qiao, he looked up with an innocent face, "Second aunt, we want to eat barbecue, can we? We’ve been walking for a while and are a bit tired, and I’ve never tried it before."
Song Qiao was actually not keen on them eating at those roadside stands since one never knows what kind of at they’re using. News reports had said that the roasted lamb skewers at street stands were actually rat at.
But seeing Lu Yulin’s expectant little face, she thought that if they didn’t eat much it should be okay, and nodded, "Alright!"
...
When Assistant Xue and Lu Jingchen arrived at the night market, it was the peak hour with no parking spaces available. Glancing at his watch, Lu Jingchen disregarded Assistant Xue, opened the car door, and got out, saying nonchalantly, "You go find a place to park the car, then wander around a bit, I’ll call you later to pick up."
Assistant Xue had no objections, although he was curious about what his boss was doing at the night market. Standing next to him would require a certain level of ntal resilience, so he preferred to take a stroll on his own.
Lu Jingchen left his suit jacket in the car, wearing just a white shirt. An City’s days were hot, but the temperature dropped considerably at night.
When Lu Jingchen found Song Qiao and the others, he happened to see Song Qiao and Chu Munan chatting and laughing, instantly feeling a surge of anger swell in his chest.
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