Inextricable

After a long day that ended with having to deal with Huai Jing’s insane requests, Xu Xingxing finally closed her eyes and dozed off. When she woke up the following morning, she found herself in Huai Jing’s bed. Her eyelashes trembled twice as the bright sun blazed outside, and she unconsciously shifted her body to a position where she could avoid the sun’s rays. At this moment, a man’s cheerful voice rang from above her head—

“Get up.”

Xu Xingxing caught sight of Huai Jing’s twinkling eyes when she looked up, which left her confused. Actually, the spot she had moved into to avoid the sun was Huai Jing’s chest, so when she realised that her body was touching his muscular body, she quickly withdrew from this position. 

“Yeah,” replied Xu Xingxing as she wrapped the quilt around her body. However, she was left stunned after she heard her own raspy and slightly dry voice, and her face rapidly turned red as last night’s senses vividly flashed in her mind.

“I should go home now, Mimi hasn’t had her breakfast yet,” she said after pausing for a bit, and just as she was about to get up from the bed, a hand suddenly stretched out and pulled her back into the warm body. 

“Hey…” Xu Xingxing’s back was now against Huai Jing’s body, and the heat emanating from his chest made her shiver. Her heart skipped a beat as her body struggled to get free of his grasp.

Huai Jing grabbed the quilt wrapped around Xu Xingxing with one hand. When she looked at him anxiously, her round eyes seemed to shine like that of a small animal’s in the sunlight.

“I haven’t had breakfast either.” Huai Jing looked down at her while saying this with a light smile.

When these words fell into Xu Xingxing’s ears, she frowned slightly. “Your housekeeping aunt will cook for you, won’t she, else, if you have any supplies at home, I can…”

The rest of her sentence was blocked by the man’s mouth, and he eventually pressed her under him to bully her again and again.

By the time Huai Jing finished eating his breakfast, Xu Xingxing was blaming herself for being so foolish as to listen to his words.

………………………………………………….

Although the translation department was not particularly busy recently, because of the extra work being assigned to her by Li Miaoxue, Xu Xingxing often had to work overtime, and there was no one else besides her in the office at seven o’clock.

When Xu Xingxing was sorting out some information, the office phone rang. It was a call from the front desk.

“Is this the translation department? Is the deputy director of your department still there? There is a courier for him. He needs to sign and collect it today.”

“He has already left work.” Xu Xingxing looked up at the wall clock in the office and told the person at the front desk, “ I’ll help you inform him.” 

That person thanked Xu Xingxing and hung up the phone. Xu Xingxing then called Zhong Yujun using the office landline.

Zhong Yujun, the deputy director, and his family lived near the company, so it would be easy for him to collect his parcel. When Xu Xingxing finished her work and went downstairs, she happened to see the deputy director signing for the courier at the front desk. 

Zhong Yujun was a tall and chubby northerner, who was very responsible with his work, along with being a good leader.

“I have to sign for a box of tea in person?” Zhong Yujun said with a smile while holding the box.

The delivery man stood beside him, watching as Zhong Yujun’s signed, and said, “The customer requested it be signed in-person. So it should be a very expensive package.”

“Haha, really? I wouldn’t know, I didn’t buy it.” After Zhong Yujun signed, he returned the pen to the delivery man, who then left.

Zhong Yujun took the express box and looked at it for a while, before opening it directly. It was a can of tea leaves. 

“Master Zhong,” Xu Xingxing called out to Zhong Yujun.

Zhong Yujun was a person with a bright and unrestrained personality, and he was very friendly. Everyone at work usually called him ‘Lord Zhong’ or ‘Master Zhong’. 

“Hey, Xiao Xu.” Zhong Yujun’s expression flickered when he saw Xu Xingxing, and he said, “I was just about to go upstairs.”

“Are you going up now?” Xu Xingxing asked.

“No, I don’t need to go as you have come down.” Zhong Yujun then carried the box of tea on one side, and continued talking to Xu Xingxing while they both were exiting the building, “I noticed that you have been working overtime recently, even though the company doesn’t have a lot of work right now.”

The weather in September had already turned a little cooler, and when the door was pushed open, a cool breeze blew in, causing Xu Xingxing to slightly shiver. She pursed her lips as she replied, “Not much.”

“Then you have an efficiency problem,” Zhong Yujun joked.

“Well, yes…” Xu Xingxing nodded and admitted.

Xu Xingxing then pulled two documents out of her bag, seeming to have suddenly remembered something, and grinned in a slightly ashamed manner while asking, “Assistant Li asked me to hand over these two materials to her before work ended, but I could not complete them because I have some doubts. So I was going to take it home and go through it slowly. However, since I’ve now met you, I would like to ask you directly.” 

“Haha, okay, ask away.” Zhong Yujun chuckled as he took the papers, and gave them a quick glance.

“This place…” Xu Xingxing pulled out a pen and began to point at certain words.

Zhong Yujun flipped through the documents and asked after a while, “Is this what Li Miaoxue asked you to translate?”     

Xu Xingxing was stunned, then she nodded. “Yes, is there anything wrong?”

“No, don’t worry about this. I’ll take the documents first, you don’t have to work overtime tonight,” said Zhong Yujun, giving Xu Xingxing a smile.

“But Assistant Li…” Xu Xingxing was a little worried.

Zhong Yujun laughed and asked Xu Xingxing, “What? Is her position higher than mine?”

“No.” Xu Xingxing smiled and finally said, “Thank you, Master Zhong.”

…………………………………….

Early the next morning, Xu Xingxing punched her card after reaching work, and as soon as she entered her department, Chen Wanwan ran over, wearing a thief’s smile as she sat on Xu Xingxing’s desk. “You know what? Li Miaoxue is being criticised by Master Zhong.”

Xu Xingxing was surprised at hearing this, so after she put down her bag and tidied up her table, she asked, “Why?”

“I don’t know.” Chen Wanwan shook her head, but then laughed. “I don’t care what the reason is, anyway, I’m so happy that she is being criticised. Hahaha… let her stay with that old man all day. She thinks that because Huang is backing her, she can do anything she likes. She deserves this!”

There were rumours floating in the office about an unspoken relationship that existed between Li Miaoxue and Huang Qiansong, the head of the translation department. Huang Qiansong took Li Miaoxue with him wherever he went, which allowed Li Miaoxue to pretend as if she was a tiger. Originally, she and Chen Wanwan had joined the company at the same time. Although Chen Wanwan was conscientious and her business ability was stronger than Li Miaoxue’s, her performance was never as good as Li Miaoxue’s because of Huang Qiansong being Li Miaoxue’s backer. It was because of this that the relationship between Chen Wanwan and Li Miaoxue was not a friendly one.

Xu Xingxing didn’t really have time to worry about such gossip, so she started on her work.

It didn’t take long for Zhong Yujun to teach Li Miaoxue a lesson, so when Li Miaoxue came out from the office, her facial expression was very ugly. Chen Wanwan was still seated beside Xu Xingxing’s table, and wore a schadenfreude smile on her face. When Li Miaoxue sensed this, she became so angry that she stomped with stiletto heels and returned to her work-desk with a sneer.

“I usually scold Li Miaoxue, but you do have to learn more from her,” said Chen Wanwan, “Look at her, she shows off her good figure. Not like you, who covers herself up so tightly.”     

As she said this, Chen Wanwan stretched her hand out to Xu Xingxing’s turtleneck sweater. She was so fast that Xu Xingxing didn’t have the time to stop or avoid her. Just as Chen Wanwan grabbed hold of her sweater, Xu Xingxing also caught her hand. This was when Chen Wanwan asked, “Hey, what’s wrong with your neck?”   

Xu Xingxing’s face flushed when she heard this question, and she blocked Chen Wanwan’s view while trying to explain anxiously, “Mi… Mimi did it.”    

Seeing Xu Xingxin resisting, Chen Wanwan didn’t insist any further, instead asking, “Isn’t your Mimi quite docile? How can it do this?”

Xu Xingxing bowed her head, hiding her blushing face, and remarked in a sulky voice, “It was an accident.” 

Before leaving for her own desk, Chen Wanwan reminded Xu Xingxing, “No matter how clean it is, a cat is still a cat, so make sure to disinfect it.”

Xu Xingxing recalled the incident of the bite, when that man had nipped her neck from behind, and her entire body heated up, so she nodded quickly for fear of being discovered. “I will.”

…………………………………….

With no extra work on her plate, Xu Xingxing got off work very early today, and as she walked out of the company door, she felt very relaxed.

Xu Xingxing used the bus to get to the vegetable market. The outdoor market was bustling and full of life. Xu Xingxing looked at the people coming and going and smiled, then remembered that she hadn’t cooked a meal by herself for a long time.  

When Huai Jing called, Xu Xingxing was selecting fish in the seafood section of the market. Xu Xingxing took out her phone and glanced at it. After apologising to the fishmonger, she stepped aside and answered the call.

“Hello.”  

""

“You sound very happy?” came Huai Jing’s voice from the other side of the phone.

Xu Xingxing was caught off guard by Huai Jing’s sudden question, everything clicked in her head and she understood what had happened in the office today. Holding her phone, she looked down at the fish in the water, and said softly, “Well, I got off work early today.”

Huai Jing listened to her deliberately suppressed voice, while also hearing the noisy voices on the other end of the phone, and he imagined her standing alone in the crowd, wearing a red dress and blushing… He smiled softly, leaning on the back of his chair, and as his slender fingers circled around the cup, in a frivolous tone, he asked, “So, can you date me today?”

Xu Xingxing choked. She was anxious for a moment, then said, “No… no.” 

From the other end of the phone came the man’s light laughter, which penetrated her eardrums, and she recalled the sight of that man’s eyes when he laughed.

“Where are you now?” Huai Jing asked Xu Xingxing.

“At the vegetable market,” she replied.

“Oh~” Huai Jing raised his voice and asked with a smile, “What are you cooking tonight?”

Xu Xingxing clenched the plastic bag holding the tofu and replied lightly, “Yellow-bone fish tofu soup.”

Huai Jing’s eyes widened when he heard what Xu Xingxing was going to cook, and remembered that the first time he had visited the vegetable market, Xu Xingxing had also bought a fish.

“Do you like to eat fish?” Huai Jing asked.

“Well, yes.”

“I like it too,” he replied.

When Xu Xingxing heard this, her lips parted slightly, and her gaze focused on the tank. The yellow-bone fish in the tank was swept away with a few drops of water left dripping.

“Are we going to have dinner together then?” Xu Xingxing asked.

For a while, there was no sound on the man’s side, and then came a burst of laughter.

“Okay,” he said.

End of chapter 8

[TL Notes: Yellow-bone fish tofu soup – A Chinese dish]