"Since you and Su Le have split up, you shouldn't be thinking about it anymore."
"Mother!"
"You're in the wrong this time, Xiao Wei. Not everyone will treat you as the centre of the world. When you betrayed your partner, you should have known the consequences of your actions." Zhuang Wei's mother no longer had a gentle expression on her face as she solemnly watched her son's hands turn pale while he gripped the steering wheel tightly. "Your father is someone who has a great sense of responsibility. I'm very regretful that you haven't learnt this from him. When you were young, our family's financial conditions had improved so you didn't go through much hardship. Later on, as you grew up, both your grades and appearance were good and because our family was rather wealthy, you have never experienced a defeat."
"Do you still remember what you said when you brought Su Le home to meet us?" Mother Zhuang sighed when she saw the painful expression on her son's face. "Xiao Wei, I hope that after this you have learnt what responsibility and loyalty are. The wealth you possess is not to be used for toying with others' feelings."
As Zhuang Wei listened to his mother's words, he kept staring straight ahead as he remembered what Su Le had once told him.
"Zhuang Wei, if you ever have a change of heart, I'll certainly won't keep you."
He still … liked Su Le.
—————-
When Wei Chu switched off his car, Su Le had already fallen asleep so he simply carried her on his back and headed upstairs. The apartment block that Su Le lived in had no elevator and she lived on the fourth floor, so Wei Chu could only climb the stairs one storey after another. Occasionally, he would see a person or two who had returned from work; they would cast odd glances at him.
He unlocked the door by taking out the keys from Su Le's bag. The person on his back remained asleep. Entering her home, Wei Chu placed Su Le on her bed and took off her shoes and jacket. Then, he covered her with the quilt. Everything went smoothly. Even after all that movement, Su Le did not wake up. Wei Chu knew that she was extremely tired. He glanced at the time on his watch before taking the keys and leaving Su Le's home to buy some food.
—————-
By the time Su Le woke up, the sky outside was already dark. She sat up and rubbed the back of her head while looking at her surrounding, her mind blank. Su Le could smell the aroma of food. Has the scent of her neighbour's cooking wafted into my home? She thought blankly.
Something was not right. Su Le remembered that she had fallen asleep in the car so how did she end up on her bed? Putting on some slippers, she exited the room to take a look. In the kitchen, she saw a very familiar figure and the scent from before was coming from the kitchen.
"You're awake?" Wei Chu heard the door open and turned to see Su Le standing outside the kitchen. She looked like she wasn't fully awake yet. He smiled and scooped a bowl of fish soup from a pot. He then took the bowl out and placed it on the dining table before saying, "This is mushroom and fish head soup. You haven't been eating properly at lunch so drink the soup first and then have a bath. We'll have dinner when you're done."
Su Le looked at Wei Chu, who was wearing a white shirt with an apron tied around his waist. She suddenly felt that this man was very attractive and it made feel something in her heart that simply couldn't be explained. Su Le sat down at the dining table and a bowl was passed to her. "The soup is still hot. Drink it slowly."
Su Le lifted her head and looked at the smiling man. She silently received the bowl. Her heart was warming up. Drinking some of the fish soup, Su Le found it to be fresh and tasty. When she looked towards the kitchen again, she discovered that the man was back in the kitchen cutting vegetables. The sound of nimble cutting in the peaceful house made the place feel more homely.
After finishing the soup, Su Le went back to her room to grab a change of clothes. It was at that moment that she looked in the mirror and saw her current appearance clearly: wrinkled shirt, messy hair, and some unwashed makeup.
If a man didn't mind her appearance at her ugliest point, didn't that mean that she truly had found her Mr. Right?
After a bath, Su Le ate dinner, which was delicious. Then she stared blankly at the man, who was perfect in many women's eyes, as he helped her clean the kitchen, clean the living room, brush the floor, check the safety of the electronics, ensure the security of the windows and doors, before finally picking up his expensive suit jacket from the sofa to put it back on. "If there are any matters, just call my personal mobile number. It's switched on 24/7."
After the man said these words, he left the apartment with a smile.
Su Le hugged a cushion as she watched the door close. Suddenly, a question popped up in her mind: Didn't Wei Chu have a business meeting today? How did he have the time to pick her up? Unless… he came to pick her up straight after the meeting had ended?
If that was the case, did he not have lunch today?
Rubbing her hair, which was almost dried, Su Le switched off the TV and sat down before the computer.
[Today's mushroom and fish head soup was very tasty; perhaps I'm truly in luck.]
Soon after posting this comment on WeiBo, many replies had begun questioning how soup and luck were related/
A comment by someone called "waiting for happiness" made Su Le laugh because he said that it was indeed lucky because if the soup was made badly, the taste would be horrible.
The image of Wei Chu wearing an apron floated in her mind. Su Le shook her head. Then she opened Word and started typing her novel. A man that could cook appeared to be particularly attractive.
Wei Chu looked at the short post on the computer screen. He was in a great mood. Unlocking his phone, Wei Chu gave his assistant a call to confirm his schedule for tomorrow.
—————-
After Su Le became the general manager's assistant, the number of times she had entered the general manager's office increased tremendously. So when she saw that her book was being held by the astute female manager, a wave of complex feelings rushed over Su Le.
Jiang Ting smiled when she saw Su Le's surprised face so she explained, "It's not official working hours yet. It's fine to kill some time. It's unfortunate that I didn't have the time to go to this author's signing event last weekend."
Luckily you didn't go.The shock would not have been good for my heart, thought Su Le. But her face had a smile as she said, "Never would I have thought that the general manager also reads novels; it's rather surprising."
"Us women should learn to treat ourselves." Jiang Ting thought about Tan Wei, who had ambiguous feelings towards Wei Chu, and stopped flipping through the pages of the book. But when she noticed that Su Le was clearly in a pretty good mood, Jiang Ting felt like she shouldn't say anything about it. "Right. I heard that you are good friends with the Chen family's successor?"
"You're talking about Chen Yue?" Su Le remembered that she had just contacted her friend last night. "Is there anything wrong with her?"
"It's nothing. It's just that I went to visit the Chen family yesterday and we just happened to talk about you. The two seniors seem to really like you." Jiang Ting never thought that Su Le's social network would be so broad. She was a little surprised by it but the favourable impression she had of Su Le had further improved.
This type of women made others admire them. Jiang Ting flipped a page of the book. As expected, she preferred women who were relatively strong.
"General Manager, if you like this author's books, I can gift you an autographed set of them." It was an honour to Su Le that a woman with such a successful career likeed her books. Su Le was very happy.
"You have a set of her books? And it's an autographed set?" Jiang Ting looked at Su Le, stunned. "I heard that this author rarely sells autographed books when they are published. You have connections within such a network?"
"It can be considered as … knowing a few people." Su Le laughed dryly. In any case, it was just her own signature. It wasn't a difficult thing to do.
"If you can really get me the full set, then this year, you'll get two extra days added to your annual leave." Jiang Ting evidently did not perceive not separating business and personal matters as something to be condemned.
"No problem." Su Le nodded happily. It was a coincidental gain for her. It would be a waste to reject it. Didn't she have a couple copies of them at her place? All she need to do was sign them. For once, she finally felt that writing novels was not just about getting a glass trophy.
"General Manager, Miss Tan has arrived." A knock on the door resounded.