Our Glamorous Time - Chapter 25

Chapter 25
Chapter 25: You Advanced, I Retreat

“It was also the first time I’ve wanted to make a woman mine . ”

Li Zhicheng stared at Lin Jian .

As expected, the woman’s previous blush had become even redder . Even the roots of her ears seemed to have caught this rouge-like color .

Instantly, Li Zhicheng stayed silent . Without any hurry, he lifted his cup of tea and took a small sip .

He was on her mind, there was no doubt about it . In that night when they’d shared so many trials together, she’d looked at him with misty eyes, full of conflicting emotions even she herself might have been unaware of .

If a woman didn’t love a man, she wouldn’t have looked at him with eyes like that .

Even his heart had soundlessly throbbed, all because of her eyes .

He was determined to make her his, but at this moment when he directly laid his true feelings bare, Li Zhicheng stayed still and looked at her pink face . And while her ten fingers hanging in front of her was subconsciously wringing together; he also felt that the heart inside his chest that’d always stayed silent before was now being softly pinched along her fingers .

His woman . Perhaps the only person in this world who could grasp his heart .

She was still hesitating . Wondering if she should come closer .

“Lin Jian . ” He looked at her, his words slow and measured, “Don’t hesitate . ”

When his voice fell, he really saw her expression become even more conflicted . Her small teeth, white as snow, nibbled on her lower lip, her face flushed red as fire .

Just then, behind her, in her cubicle, the phone suddenly rang .

Then Li Zhicheng saw a secretly delighted expression flash across Lin Jian’s face; an expression of relief . However, she very quickly recovered from it, as though nothing had happened .

“Director Li, I’m going to take the call first!” She quickly threw him a guilty glance, turned around and, thump thump thump, left just like that,

Li Zhicheng sat there without moving . His keen, tranquil eyes stayed on her figure, as well as on her elegant side-profile outside the door as she pretended to focus on her work .

He lowered his eyes after a moment, a smile slowly bloomed on his lips .

Trap her in, then loosen the reins… only to catch her . All the better . He could see the new dawn of victory already .

——

“Transfer application . ”

Lin Jian tapped a few words on her keyboard, slowly looked at them for a moment, then tapped the backspace key and deleted those words .

She flopped on the desk and heaved a sigh . Then, from the periphery of her vision, she glanced at Li Zhicheng’s tall silhouette projected on the wall of the office, and let out another silent sigh .

So early in the morning, the big boss actually confessed his feelings .

What should she do now? Do not put shoes in a melon field; do not toy with your hat under a plum tree[1] . It was truly an inextricably ambiguous situation . She couldn’t help but see him all the time, even if she didn’t want to .

She did indeed have favorable feelings for this honest and upright Li Zhicheng who kept fighting in spite of adversity . But those favorable feelings weren’t enough to make her immediately agree to be his girlfriend .

And now, he was no longer that former person . She still had a little trouble adjusting herself even now .

She only felt a sense of unfamiliarity; an empty, elusive sense of unfamiliarity .

Only, why did her heart felt a little upset when she thought about it?

The phone on her desk ran again just then .

The call that had almost saved her life earlier was, surprisingly, from a shareholder .

Aida wasn’t on the stock market, but the shares were clearly divided nonetheless . Li Zhicheng’s family held an absolute majority of shares . Another part of the shares was scattered among the other members of the administration and some old people . The one who’d called a moment ago was precisely a small retired shareholder, one of the chairman’s good brothers back then . It was the first time for Lin Jian to receive a call from someone like that .

He wanted to meet Li Zhichen, and also inquired about the online flagship store’s sales numbers . Between his words, she could almost hear his concern whether the shareholders would receive their dividends .

Lin Jian had immediately understood . Aida had struggled at death’s door for a long time already . Now that they’d finally started turning their fortunes around in the public eye, it was natural for him to act as soon as he found out since benefits were involved . Lin Jian hadn’t dared casually agree . She thought Li Zhicheng was most probably not going to see this shareholder, and only gave him a vague promise .

And this present call also made her quite surprised .

It was from a provincial sales director in Eastern China . A figure like that was in charge of the sales in several dozens of stores within a province . Any of them was a slick and smart man .

“Assistant Lin, several of us provincial directors are keen to meet Director Li face to face so that he can give us an explanation,” he said with a smile that wasn’t a smile . “The price online is so low now . Our shops didn’t have it easy, to begin with, now it’s even more impossible . What should we do?”

……

After hanging up, Lin Jian wrote down the most important points from the two previous calls, then took a deep breath, looked at the director-general’s office’s half-closed door . She stood up and went inside again .

Li Zhicheng has already seated himself behind his big desk . He looked up when he heard footsteps . His piercing black eyes calmly looked at her .

Before she even said anything, under his watchful gaze, her self-awareness made her face quickly heat up in spite of herself .

Mothertrucker… She silently swore at herself . She stared at the smooth shirt on his shoulder, saying while avoiding his gaze, “Director Li, two phone calls came in right now…” She handed him the paper where she’d written the important points while giving him a brief summary at the same time . Then she hung down her head and stayed silent, waiting for his decision .

Just as she expected, Li Zhichen stayed silent for a moment before his faint voice came to her ears, “No meeting . ”

“Noted . ” Her answer was straightforward, her thoughts swiftly churning at the same time–to begin with, Aida had been a hopeless swamp . Li Zhicheng had taken the reins in a time of calamity and pushed forward this series of bold and decisive actions with the help of a few core trusted aids . However, how huge was this company and its thousands of people? The relationships of interest were also very complex . Winning this one time didn’t mean the company had already made a complete one-eighty and didn’t mean that he’d already grasped this company securely in his hands . Though there was a new hope, a slight moment of carelessness could drag this new hope into a new swamp and drown it . Then all his great efforts would have been for naught .

Lin Jian couldn’t help but look up and glance at his peaceful demeanor .

Though he’d won his first battle, a difficult road still lay ahead of him .

Wait, what was she thinking? She was still thinking of him as that insufficiently-experienced man and was feeling pity and tenderness for him as was she was wont to do .

Ah… . He didn’t need it at all .

“Is there anything else?” His voice once again quietly came to her ears; cool, clear, deep .

Lin Jian froze . Only then did she notice she’d stayed absent-minded for too long in his presence .

She didn’t even need to look up to feel his eyes surrounding her, omnipresent like the air . And his words, “Anything else?” seemed to contain another subtle meaning, making her suddenly tense .

This whole office, as though it’d taken on his strong cool and quiet aura, fell into a charged silence .

Her cheeks flushed pink, Lin Jian looked up at him .

He looked back at her with his black eyes, not saying a word . Those eyes were deep as they always were . She couldn’t see through them .

Lin Jian’s gaze was firm and resolute, but her voice was quiet and soft like a mosquito . “Director Li, regarding myself… I have no plan of dating for the moment . My apologies . ”

[1] It means that if a person pulls on his shoe in a melon patch, other people are likely to think he is stealing melons; and if he adjusts his cap under a plum tree, other people are likely to think he is picking plums . Thus, it refers to being in suspicious circumstances or surroundings .