Chapter 162 - City S - Part 2
She splashed her face with water as soon as she arrived in the restroom. She stared at her reflection in the mirror while scolding herself. She didn’t know why she suddenly snapped at Albert today at all.
It’s not like this was even the first time he made a pass on her, but it seems like her suspicion was causing her to subconsciously become hypersensitive of his actions. At this rate, if he really is someone who is to be suspected, he’ll surely put his guard up and become more careful with his actions because of her thoughtless actions.
After gathering herself for a full minute in there, she reminded herself once again that she should just act normal as if she didn’t know anything. Then she returned to her seat again and had her meal while chatting with others.
Xiu Mei examined the restaurant for a little bit to observe the influx of the customers coming in and thought that there are too many people so she couldn’t casually inquire about the status of the plan with the Zen Group.
"Are there any plans for today?" Xiu Mei asked Albert since he was the acting captain of the Marketing Team 3.
"We were supposed to visit the testing laboratory for today but since the plans changed and they requested your attendance, they moved it up to tomorrow morning."
"Okay so after this, let’s huddle somewhere private to talk about the contract signing then that will be all for today. Just tell me about everything that wasn’t written in the report then everyone can do whatever they want to do for the day after that."
Albert Chen nodded in agreement with her suggestion.
So after taking their lunch in that place, they moved into some traditional teahouse place where Xiu Mei sent a short notice for reservation in a private room.
"So where are we with the contract signing with the Zen Group?" Xiu Mei inquired while sipping her tea.
The second Account Executive of the Marketing Team 3 spoke up to discuss the current status of their negotiation with the mentioned company.
"We’re all clear with the mobile upgrades partnership so we’re just waiting for the finalization of the budget of both sides for the final product so they could sign the contract. Since it’s still in the trial stage, tomorrow the Zen Group will bring us to the testing laboratory to discuss the progress of the project."
"Both sides are doing their estimation for the budget, correct?"
"Yes, the final estimation just came in yesterday from the Planning Department so if Ms.Xiu would like to see it, I’ll be happy to forward the file to you anytime today."
"Thanks. Then forward it to my email letter so I could check."
Her head turned to Albert Chen.
"Brief me about the progress in your conversation with them for the past few days since tomorrow, I’m quite sure they’ll ask about the data breach news. I’ll need to feel out first their stance before we could proceed with the contract signing."
"I understand. Then I’ll brief you about it later today."
Xiu Mei and the team spent almost an hour discussing about their plans for tomorrow. Since she’ll still need a brief discussion with Albert, she let the other members go on their own way first, leaving the two of them alone in the private room.
Caught up in her train of thoughts about work, she went straight to the point in her questions and discussions with Albert Chen. Thankfully, he didn’t pull a stunt in the middle of their discussion as he also took their meeting seriously. They finished discussing after half an hour, going through 3 pots of tea.
Xiu Mei was still noting some stuff on her phone about work to finalize their short meeting when Albert offered to bring her out for some dessert.
He stared at the cold pot of tea in the middle of the table and exclaimed, "I think we drank too much tea for today. Should we go grab some desserts to alleviate the taste?"
He was talking about the bitter aftertaste of the tea after they drank it cold.
Pressing ’save’ on her phone, she glanced at her own cup of cold tea before turning to Albert. She didn’t think much about his offer but since she was also tasting the bitterness of the leaves in her mouth, she agreed with his suggestion.
After walking a few stores down the street, they entered a dessert cafe. She casually ordered some slice of cheesecake and a small packet of fruits. She was waiting for their food to be served when she noticed how Albert was grinning at her.
"...Why are you smiling so scary like that?" She suspiciously asked.
Albert shrugged. "Maybe it’s because it’s the first time you ever agreed on my requests to take you out?"
Oh, he was indeed right.
He was actively inviting her to eat with him a couple of times before but she’ll always shot him down. She thought, was it her gut instinct sensing that he was some person she shouldn’t be hanging out with?
"It’s just by chance." She perfunctorily replied.
"Still, it’s a great achievement after all that many attempts."
"Don’t celebrate too much. It’s just by chance that I’m craving for something sweet after drinking so much tea--oh thanks."
Their desserts were finally served on their table. She picked up her pastry fork getting ready to dig in when she noticed numerous plates of desserts on Albert’s side.
"..."
Is he a pig?
"Didn’t we just finish our lunch?" She almost doubted whether this guy ate this lunch if it wasn’t for the fact that she was sitting beside him the whole time.
They just had their lunch like less than two hours ago... and this guy is eating like he hadn’t eaten anything?
Albert playfully smiled as he readied his fork.
"Like they always say, there’s a different space of desserts in our stomach."
She couldn’t help but laugh at his statement. "Just don’t get a stomachache because we have a really important meeting in the next few days."
"Do you want some?" Before she could reply, he dropped a couple of macarons and placed a serving ice cream in front of her. She almost shuddered at the amount of sugar in front of her.
"I can’t eat this much." She tried to push back the plate back to Albert’s but he stopped her by holding it from the opposite end of the plate.
"Just think of it as stocking up food for the impending stress for the next days."
She looked at him weirdly. It was the first time she heard someone put it that way.
"What do you think am I? A bear nearing its hibernation?"
Albert Chen put a spoonful of the chocolate slice in his mouth, grinning.
"Make it two bears approaching hibernation."
"..."
Reason won’t work for him at this moment ah.
In the end, she surrendered to the sugar monsters in front of her and gobbled it up like mad just like Albert. After eating their desserts, since she thought it wasn’t really appropriate to keep hanging out with him alone any longer, both of them went on their own ways.
She visited a couple of souvenir shops to buy some stuff just in case she couldn’t find the time to buy once she gets too busy in the next few days. After all, she can’t just go home without buying anything for the little one.
Keeping her promise to her son, she kept steadily messaged him throughout the day. She knew how anxious Lu Qiang must have been right now, and Lu Chen chose to work from home just to keep an eye on the kid for today.
Xiu Mei stared at the sky. It was almost sunset and she was bound to go back to the hotel anytime soon. After paying for the items she bought, she walked along the streets in tranquility. She casually took a picture of the sky and the scenery before sending it to the two men at home.
Lu Qiang’s reply came quickly and as she was typing her response, she stopped on her tracks when she heard somebody calling her name.
"Sister MeiMei?"
Wasn’t that Wan Wan?
Xiu Mei struggled whether to turn around or act as if she hadn’t heard her at all but seeing that there weren’t many people around and the surroundings were actually pretty quiet, wouldn’t it be pretty obvious if she acted like she hadn’t heard her?
Oh, but didn’t she already tell her that she didn’t know her the last time they met? Then she guessed it would be fine if she ignored her right now.
Xiu Mei continued walking down the street until she reached the road to hail a taxi but before she could even raise her hand, she felt a sudden chill on her back.
...Yes, not behind her back but ON her back.
Xiu Mei turned to look behind her and saw Wan Wan sheepishly smiling at her while holding an ice cream cone. Then she lowered her eyes and saw her clothes stained with a scoop of strawberry ice cream.
Xiu Mei:....isn’t this scenario quite similar to the tactic being used by street robbers she read from an article months ago?