Their Love Stories

He was in a very good mood today, in stark contrast to his mood in the previous days. Could it really be what her colleagues had suggested, that this transition from cloudiness to sunshine was attributed to some woman he liked?

Song Pingting felt bitter and sad. He must have fallen in love with someone. It was the only explanation for his uncharacteristic mood swings.

The other secretaries were still chatting. “This is not a market! Go back to your work, now!” barked Song Pingting.

Everyone’s expression changed. They all knew about Song Pingting’s feelings, but what was she doing, blowing up at them like that? The fact that she liked President Ye didn’t mean he couldn’t like someone else, did it?

What a joke she was!

Nevertheless, since Song Pingting was the head secretary and had more power than the rest of them, they dared not make a retort. They bowed their heads and started working.

For a while, the secretaries’ office was so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop.

They all felt indignant but dared not speak up.

Ye Zhongjue was obviously in a fantastic mood today. The cloud hanging low over his head had completely dispersed.

Lin Ran quickly seized the opportunity and urged the various departments to submit their financial statements by the deadline he had set. He hoped he would never be Ye Zhongjue’s punching bag again.

The Mighty Empire building had gone back to normalcy. The staff could finally take a break.

……

Meanwhile, Mo Suqing had arrived at her office. Zhang Yubin seemed to have something to say to her yet couldn’t quite say it, so he resorted to hovering near her desk, wanting to but dare not come over.

The corner of her mouth twitched a little. She knew that Zhang Yubin was not a bad guy, but he still had not given up on her. In case similar things happened again with her and Ye Zhongjue, she decided it would be better to keep a distance between them.

Mo Suqing lowered her head and started working, pretending not to notice him.

This immediately dampened Zhang Yubin’s desire to make a move. Maybe it is because of the mistake I made the other day with Ye Zhongjue, so she has been cold to him these last few days. She won’t even look at him now.

Eventually, Zhang Yubin walked away after a while, his head bowed and his expression miserable.

Leng Xiyao had just come to work. She saw on her computer screen that her QQ profile picture kept flickering.

She opened the app and found that it was Mo Suqing who had been sending her messages. Unexpectedly, she had already finished the draft for today. Leng Xiyao glanced at Mo Suqing, amazed. No way! This woman was still lifeless yesterday, but today… today she seems to have taken some powerful stimulants!

She looked at Mo Suqing and asked nervously, “Suqing, did you take some drug today?”

Mo Suqing gave her a look and said, exasperated, “I did not! Did you?”

Leng Xiyao pursed her lips. “No I didn’t!”

“Me neither!” Mo Suqing chimed with her.

Huh, looks like someone has come back to herself! thought Leng Xiyao. She even has the energy to bicker. Apparently in a very good mood, she is!

She beamed at Mo Suqing. “Suqing, did something great happen to you?”

Mo Suqing did not have the heart to knock that smile off her face, so she only laughed nervously and said, “No…”

Leng Xiyao was surprised. It looked like Mo Suqing had not only come back to life with an excellent mood, but her wit also returned to normal.

For the last few days, she would answer something totally irrelevant to the questions Leng Xiyao had posed. For example, when she asked her if she had eaten yet, she had replied that she came back from the restroom, with a lost look.

“Good job, comrade Suqing,” praised Leng Xiyao, “to have finished your work so early today! I highly approve of you!”

The two of them formed a team and always went to gather the material for stories and write them jointly.

Therefore, since Mo Suqing had finished the story for today, Leng Xiyao had no work left to do.

She casually selected one of the magazines and began reading.

Mo Suqing kept staring at her computer without really doing anything. She knew Leng Xiyao very well, especially about her tendency to do something weird or foolish.

As if to confirm her understanding of her best friend, Leng Xiyao suddenly grabbed Mo Suqing by the sleeve.

Mo Suqing looked at her in bewilderment. “What is wrong now?”

Leng Xiyao looked at her excitedly, “Suqing, you have found yourself a nouveau riche!”

“What?” Mo Suqing had no idea what she was talking about.

“See for yourself!” Leng Xiyao jabbed with her finger a picture on the magazine she had been reading.

She was so excited, as if she had won the lottery. “Look at the suit the model is wearing. It is the same as the one your man wore the other day! A hand-made suit priced at one million dollars! The manufacturer could well have robbed the bank!”

Mo Suqing frowned. She didn’t think Ye Zhongjue had enough money to buy such an extravagant item.

Leng Xiayo did not notice Mo Suqing’s expression. She continued to twitter, “Look at the cuffs of the sleeves and the workmanship. It may look like any other suit and you can’t even tell what brand it is, but this is exactly what separates it from the other top-end brands – low-key luxury. See here? It says there are only ten such suits all over the world!”

Leng Xiyao stared at Mo Suqing, eyes wide. “Wow. Mo Suqing, you are married to the dream guy – who is tall, rich and handsome! And as rich as someone could possibly be!”

Mo Suqing didn’t know what to say. “As rich as someone could possibly be.” How expressive!

Mo Suqing didn’t care what Ye Zhongjue wore. Men’s suits all looked the same in her eyes. If the person was good-looking, everything looked good on him.

As to what Leng Xiyao had indicated about a suit that cost sky-high… Is it possible for Ye Zhongjue to wear something like that? Mo Suqing chuckled inwardly. She must have been kidding me!

She gave Leng Xiyao a cold glance. Although she had no desire to extinguish her “optimism,” she could not help but point out, “Don’t forget, the tall, rich and handsome man you are talking about drives a regular Volkswagen!”

Leng Xiyao found it impossible to contradict Mo Suqing on this point. Maybe I mistake what he was wearing for something so expensive. It is quite unlikely, come to think of it.

“Alright then. Don’t take me seriously. I just find the two suits a bit similar, but of course there is a possibility that I’m wrong.”

Leng Xiyao wagged her head playfully. Mo Suqing shook her own head speechlessly. She turned her attention to the computer and went back to write her story, not at all taking her sporadic craziness seriously.

At noon, Ye Zhongjue called unexpectedly.

“Suqing, let’s have lunch together today!”

Mo Suqing was reminded of the passion last night and blushed pink as a rose.

“Okay,” she replied shyly.

“I’ll go pick you up in a second,” Ye Zhongjue said in his usual, pleasant voice.

Mo Suqing rang off and turned her head back.

Leng Xiyao was watching her. “Suqing, are you alright? You have a spooky grin on your face!”

Her expression seemed to say, Are you well?

Mo Suqing turned around and hit her head with a smack.

“What are you thinking? Well, I’m not going to have lunch with you. I have… this thing.”

Leng Xiyao looked at her slyly with her gossip journalist’s eyes. “You have a date, right?”

Mo Suqing tilted her head and flashed her a mischievous smile.

“Yeah, that’s right. I’m having a date with Ye Zhongjue. Wanna come?”

Leng Xiyao shook her head vigorously like a toy pellet drum.

“Nah, I don’t want to be the third wheel. To be more precise, I don’t want to see the PDA between you two!”

Mo Suqing started putting away her work stuff and said, “Then I’m out! You want anything? I can bring something back for you. Or not, if you prefer food hunting yourself.”

“Never mind, I’ll go to the cafeteria.”

Leng Xiyao waved her hand, as if to say, You can retire from my sight now.

Mo Suqing and Leng Xiyao seldom had their lunch at the cafeteria. It couldn’t be 

helped. The food there was horrible and they were both quite particular about what they ate.

Mo Suqing left the building and saw Ye Zhongjue’s across the street.

Smiling, she waved her arm to catch Ye Zhongjue’s attention.

There was a change in the poker face of his. He fixed his gaze at Mo Suqing while walking straight towards her. She was all he could see at that moment.

They went to a steakhouse not far from Trend Magazine.

This was Ye Zhongjue’s idea. He had pointed out the fact they had never gone to a proper restaurant and that it was not okay for a couple – newlyweds at that – not to have a romantic meal together once in a while.

Mo Suqing agreed with a smile.

After they had placed their order, they waited patiently.

Occasionally, Ye Zhongjue would say a word or two. Most of the time, it was Mo Suqing who did the talking. She enjoyed telling him about her work, her friends and her daily life.

Although they lived together, she still liked to share funny things that happened to her during the day.

Watching Mo Suqing and her lively, charming, lovely as well as various other expressions, Ye Zhongjue felt his heart melt. He really shouldn’t have got all mad and jealous the last few days.

He never wanted to miss a moment with his wonderful girl.

The steaks arrived. Ye Zhongjue, a perfect gentleman, helped Mo Suqing cut the meat into bites before dealing with his.

Mo Suqing looked up mid-meal. She found that Ye Zhongjue was very elegant when he ate the steak. It was as if he had been brought up to be an educated, well-mannered person.

His movements and gestures were graceful without being too slow. It was pleasant to watch him eat.

Putting a morsel of food in her mouth, Mo Suqing was reminded of what Leng Xiyao had said in the morning.

She decided to tell Ye Zhongjue all about it as a joke. “So this morning, Yao read about some suit on a fashion magazine. Somehow, she kept saying that it looked just like the one you were wearing the other day when you two met…”

Mo Suqing shook her head, laughing. Ye Zhongjue could see the two girls were very close. They were like sisters without any reserve to one another, that was how close they were.

However, hearing what she was saying, something flashed in his eyes. He moved his lips but eventually nothing came out.

Mo Suqing did not notice anything wrong with either his eyes or his lips. She continued, “Can you believe it? The suit costs a million dollars! What kind of suit has to be this expensive? Why don’t they just buy gold leaves to put on their bodies? Only fools who have too much money will buy a suit like that, I reckon.”

Her criticism was quite harsh, but that was who she was: authentic and not pretentious.

The corner of Ye Zhongjue’s mouth twitched. If she knows I’m one of the fools who has too much money, what would she think?

“What did you tell her?” Ye Zhongjue asked as if curious.

Mo Suqing paused her hand holding the fork. A charming smile spread over her face.

“Well, I shut her mouth with one sentence. I said, ‘Don’t forget, the tall, rich and handsome man you are talking about drives a regular Volkswagen!’ She went silent instantly, ha!”