After Gu Jiazhi left, the office fell into silence.
During this time, an assistant knocked on the door and came in. "CEO Yu, do you need me to bring tea over?"
Yu Tingchuan said, "No. You may carry on with your work."
The assistant shut the door and left.
Song Qingcheng raised her head and looked towards the large desk. Yu Tingchuan was standing in front of it, leaning his weight against the edge. He was wearing black trousers and a white shirt. His hands were casually placed on either side of the edge of the desk. Sensing that she was looking at him, he returned with a cold stare that seemed to pierce right through her.
"What are you looking at?" he asked as he reached for the cigarette box on the table.
Song Qingcheng relaxed her body and leaned against the sofa. "At you. Can't I look?"
There was a sort of charm in her tone that she probably was unaware of.
Yu Tingchuan took a cigarette and bit it between his teeth. He closed the pack of cigarettes and tossed it back onto the desk. Then, he turned to look for a lighter. When Song Qingcheng saw this, she walked towards him.
Yu Tingchuan shifted his gaze to her as she picked up the lighter next to his hand.
The girl's hand was slender, pale, and soft; a contrast to the solid black metallic lighter in her hand. Yu Tingchuan looked at it for a while before asking, "What are you trying to do?"
The deep drawl of his voice mesmerized Song Qingcheng.
There was a maturity in that voice that a boy in his twenties would not have.
She curled her pink lips. "Helping you light your cigarette."
As she spoke, a small tongue of flame shot out from the lighter.
Yu Tingchuan stared at the purplish-blue flame for a few seconds. Eventually, he didn't lower his head to light the cigarette. He casually placed the cigarette back on the desk. "You should take a shower."
With that, he walked into the lounge.
Song Qingcheng felt a little defeated by his casual tone. Her gaze inadvertently shifted to the cigarette at the edge of the desk. There was a faint bite mark on the filter.
…
When Gu Jiazhi returned from the Finance Department, she pushed the door open and saw Yu Tingchuan smoking by the French window.
Yu Tingchuan turned around when he heard the door open. "Is everything sorted out?"
As he spoke, he walked back to the desk and stubbed the end of his cigarette into the crystal ashtray.
"Yes, Xu Dong is tidying up outside," Gu Jiazhi said as she turned to look at the lounge. Its door was shut. "Still taking a shower inside?"
There was an affirmative silence from Yu Tingchuan as he picked up his coat from the sofa. "Let's go."
"Are we not waiting for that child…?" Gu Jiazhi asked.
"I'll have Linda show her out later."
Linda was one of the CEO's assistants.
Gu Jiazhi nodded. Considering that Jason was already waiting at the hotel, she had no objections.
…
There was no one in the spacious office when Song Qingcheng came out of the lounge.
She was wearing only a gray-colored man's shirt. The hem of the shirt covered her thighs, revealing a pair of long, pale legs beneath. The top two buttons of the shirt were open, and her half-dried hair fell over her shoulders. Her beautiful snow-white collarbones and neck were faintly discernible under the veil of jet black hair.
Just then, the office door swung open.
Song Qingcheng recognized the female assistant who had asked Yu Tingchuan if he wanted tea.
The other party looked at Song Qingcheng's shirt and was clearly stunned for a moment.
Her boss had worn this shirt several times, so of course, Linda remembered it. She did not know that Song Qingcheng had come with Gu Jiazhi so she thought that it was someone brought over by Yu Tingchuan. In addition, Yu Tingchuan had instructed her to send someone back so Linda could not help but made guesses at her identity.
Even if there had been scandals involving Yu Tingchuan and some female celebrities before, it was definitely his first time bringing a woman to the office.
She had worked for Yu Tingchuan for three to four years as an assistant, but she had never seen Yu Tingchuan being close to anyone of the opposite sex, let alone secretly keeping a woman. At least, he had never required her to accompany his woman on a shopping trip. She had classmates who were secretaries or assistants to CEOs in other companies, and they have had to serve their boss's lover like a nanny.
She had thought that someone like Miss Gu was already considered very close to CEO Yu…
At this thought, Linda became very polite. "You've taken a shower?"
"Yes." Song Qingcheng twitched her mouth.
Linda walked up to Song Qingcheng and sized her up. Suddenly, she saw why Yu Tingchuan was willing to take in this 'kept' woman.
She was young, beautiful, and had much to capitalize on. Her skin was so plump and moist that one could almost squeeze water out of it.
Linda went to the lounge and came out with Song Qingcheng's drenched clothes in her hands. "Please wait in CEO Yu's office. I'll send these clothes to the dry cleaner nearby and will drive you home after they send the laundry back to us."
…
After Linda left, Song Qingcheng sat down on the sofa and looked around in boredom.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed an opened hardback on the tea table.
Song Qingcheng picked it up. It was the original English edition of 'The Old Man and the Sea.'
"…but man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated." Song Qingcheng looked at the lines of English words and automatically translated their meaning into Chinese in her mind.
Feeling cold after a while, she reached for the folded blanket beside her.
…
It was past 5 pm by the time Yu Tingchuan returned to the office.
The first thing that greeted his sight as he opened the door was the figure nestled on the sofa.
Linda stood up from her seat and walked over to explain, "CEO Yu, it's probably because of the rain. The dry cleaner said that they will only send the laundry over later."
Yu Tingchuan retracted his gaze from the leather sofa and nodded slightly, letting her get back to her work.
After Linda left, Yu Tingchuan shut the door.
He walked into the office but did not go near the sofa.
He leaned his tall body against the edge of the desk and lit a cigarette with a lighter before slowly exhaling a puff of smoke.
His gaze shifted back to the sofa.
Song Qingcheng was sleeping with her legs curled up. Her slender body was loosely covered in the shirt with its sleeves rolled up, revealing her slender wrists. A plain-colored blanket was draped over her, and there was an opened book on her lap. Her slightly wavy black hair was spread over the sofa, and her face—sans makeup—was a little sickly pale. Nevertheless, it did nothing to diminish her beauty.
'The mountains in the distance are beautiful, and the water is misty.'
These two lines from a poem describing a woman's beauty came to Yu Tingchuan's mind.
He reached out to tap the cigarette against the ashtray. The grayish-remains crumbled and fell into the tray.