Chapter 33 - Awareness
Chapter 33: Awareness
—————- “Thank you for just now, I’ll return the money to you tomorrow,” said Su Le as she sat on the sofa and drank a mouthful of the lukewarm tea before she felt the fire in her heart simmer down. While resting against the sofa, Su Le massaged her forehead and looked towards the laptop. The look in her eyes suddenly changed slightly.
“It’s not much. You don’t need to be so polite.” Wei Chu saw that Su Le’s mood was not very good so he said, “Regarding things about work, let’s discuss it in the afternoon instead. I have a couple of novels that are this year’s best sellers. Would you like to take a look at them?”
Su Le smiled but shook her head in response, “It’s nothing. It’s just that I’m meeting a stranger that I never thought I would meet. I’ll start working after a while. About the plans, I want to alter some details. You can take a look at it first and if there is anything that is unsuitable, just point it out.”
“Work can be discussed any time.” Wei Chu sighed and picked up the cup in front of Su Le and said,”Sit down for a while, I’ll give you a fresh cup of tea.”
As Su Le watched the door close once again, her finger moved across the laptops interaction pad. Instantly, the once darkened screen lit up. After minimising the web page, she looked at the familiar image on the screen saver.
The image was very familiar to Su Le but that was not what she focused on. What surprised her was that there was a familiar figure standing near the Wutong trees. Even though the appearance was somewhat vague, she could still recognise who it was.
Judging from the angle, it appeared that picture was taken without the person’s permission. But was the picture taken by coincidence or was it on purpose? Su Le didn’t believe that any woman could remain calm or indifferent when they discovered a picture of herself on another person’s laptop screen saver.
This felt just like when someone suddenly discovered that they had an extra 100 yuan in their pocket but they didn’t know where the money had come from; they would be unsure of whether they should spend it, or stand to one side and wait for the owner to look for the money.
“Kacha!” A cup was placed in front of Su Le. When Wei Chu saw the laptop in front of Su Le, his smile dampened but seeing Su Le’s expression remain unchanged, he continued smiling and said, “Are you still using the laptop? I have a file saved in it and I’ll need to use it soon.”
“This laptop belongs to you?” Su Le lifted her head to look at Wei Chu. The look in her eyes changed, “I’m really sorry. I didn’t know that you needed to use it.”
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“It’s alright. Chen Xu may have forgotten,” Wei Chu smiled as he closed the laptop and placed it on his desk. He then went to get 2 books and placed them in front of Su Le. Su Le glanced at them. They were the latest novels from two authors that she liked. She opened one of the books and it was actually autographed. Su Le widened her eyes in amazement because she remembered that this author was rather lazy and rarely signed his books, so getting his books autographed was not easy. Even she had to use all sorts of connections in order to get one.
But in this world, what couldn’t the rich do? Su Le just assumed that Wei Chu was interested in these two authors’ novels and spent some effort to get these books. But looking at the pages of the book, it still looked very new and there didn’t seem to be any marks of someone flipping the pages. She didn’t know whether this was because Wei Chu was too busy and still hadn’t got to reading them yet, or if he treated these books like treasure and handled them very, very carefully.
“If you like them, you can keep them since I rarely read them anyway,” Wei Chu said, but he only said that because he saw that Su Le was lost in thought while staring at the autographed book.
“Ah?” Su Le regained her focus and smiled while she shook her head, “No need. A few days ago, I got the autographed books with someone’s help.”
“I see.” There was no disappointment displayed on Wei Chu’s face but there wasn’t any happiness expressed either about the two of them liking the same authors.
Although Su Le was flipping through the book, her gaze was actually on Wei Chu’s face. When Wei Chu looked up at her, Su Le looked towards the windows. The sun was shining outside but she did not know whether the temperature outside was warm since there was an air conditioner in the office, which caused the room to always be at a comfortable temperature. Su Le propped up one of her hands to rest her chin against it and said, “There is a mole on my right ring finger. In the past, a fortune teller said that this mole meant that my future husband would be my lucky star.”
Wei Chu didn’t expect Su Le to suddenly talk about this, so he lifted his head to look at her. But all he saw was a calm smile on her face, as if she had not just met her biological father.
“It’s just that my mother also has a mole on the same finger, and the location of it is similar to mine,” Su Le shrugged and carried on, “so things like fortune telling are all fake.”
The edge of Wei Chu’s brow twitched, “Things like fortune telling, it depends on the person’s belief. It’s real if one believes in it and fake if they don’t believe in it.”
Su Le smiled while nodding her head. Then, she lifted the teacup to take a sip. The green tea had a faint fragrance, and drinking it gave her a refreshing feeling. She then looked down and stared at the book cover on her lap and said, “Do you still remember Lin Qi?”
After a moment of thinking, a vague figure appeared in Wei Chu’s mind, but since he wasn’t sure, he could only ask uncertainly, ” Is it that waitress we ran into at the resort?”
Seeing Wei Chu’s unsure expressions, Su Le laughed, “Yes, that’s her. Her mother and my father are siblings. But after my parents divorced, we couldn’t deal with Lin Qi’s family, so my mother moved out of our home with me.” And that was why she couldn’t understand why Lin Qi treated her, Su Le, as a rival, given that they had not actually seen each other in many, many years; it was as if Lin Qi used her moving out as the basis behind their rivalry.
When Su Le said ‘my father’, Wei Chu did not hear any awkwardness, and neither was there any emotion in her voice. Itas if she simply treated it as words and there was nothing else to it. He stood and and went to sit next to Su Le to listen about her past.
“Honestly, it’s not as pitiful as TV dramas. I grew up similar to everyone else. Also, my mother rarely mentions my father; it was like he wasn’t all that important in our family. Anyway, during parents’ meetings, most of the other kids only brought one parent to the meeting, so it’s not like I’m missing out on anything compared to them,” Su Le smiled faintly, “so you need not treat me like I’m some pitiful female lead in a drama. Also, don’t give me any sympathetic gazes as I will only feel uncomfortable.”
Wei Chu couldn’t help but smile. After chatting for a while longer, they both proceeded to do their own work. Even though they were in the same office, they did not disturb each other.
—————-
When lunch time arrived, Chen Xu was very careful as he gazed at the CEO’s office. There didn’t seem to be any movement from the office. Chen Xu was anxious. After all, it was because of him that the both of them could come to JinChu to see Lao Da in the first place. With such a matter having occurred, he felt he had wronged Su Le and was afraid that Su Le was crying inside the office.
Just when Chen Xu was feeling highly unsettled, the doors to the CEO’s office opened. Both Su Le and Wei Chu came out with a slight smile on their face and it didn’t seem like they were upset. Neither was there any embarrassment. Chen Xu took his gaze away and thought that he must have watched too many sad dramas with his mother that his thoughts had been affected by them. Su Le didn’t look like she was affected at all. She didn’t look like a female lead in a sad drama.
—————-
At a restaurant table, Wei Chu watched Su Le eat 2 bowls of rice and drink a bowl of pork bone soup as she moved her chopsticks at a fast pace. The worry he felt finally settled and he thought, If she can eat and drink, at least her health won’t be affected.
After the meal, the two of them returned back to the company. Su Le gave Wei Chu a notice before heading towards the planning department. The staff in the planning department were very kind and warm to Su Le and didn’t treat her coldly just because she was from a different company. Su Le was relieved and said what she had originally planned to say.
The people in the planning department were originally only courteous to Su Le because of her relationship with their boss. But after working with her in the afternoon, they discovered that although the young lady was lacking in professionalism in some aspects, all her ideas were realistic and she was familiar with the market. It was obvious that she had done some research and a lot of effort was spent on it.
They began to chat happily with one another and by the time Wei Chu came to pick Su Le up, Su Le was already joking around while working with a few members of the department.
Wei Chu stood at the entrance to the department. Su Le and his staff were getting along so well that even though he was standing right at the entrance, no one actually noticed him. As a boss, he felt like sighing at how little his presence was acknowledged. As a man, though, he felt happy because the person he liked could get along with others easily.
Finally, someone with sharp eyes noticed Wei Chu was standing at the entrance. He coughed once before greeting Wei Chu, “Hello, boss.”
And the people who were originally joking around instantly stopped speaking, turning their heads towards the entrance. The people who were secretly browsing the internet stopped browsing it and the people who were lazing around all sat upright. Su Le was the only one who remained in the same position with the plans in her hands.
“It’s not early anymore. If everyone has finished their work, you can all leave,” Wei Chu said with a smile. He then turned to speak to Su Le, “Su Le, are you still busy? If not, I’ll send you home.”
The few people around them exchanged looks with one another before they came to a mutual understanding. They all stood up and and expressed that they had no more work to do before they all disappeared. Within a minute, there wasn’t a single person still next to Su Le. Su Le looked at the plans in her hands, then looked at Wei Chu who was smiling warmly before she nodded, “Let’s go.”
—————-
As the two of them reached the ground floor, they saw someone whom they had not planned on seeing. Su Le calmly looked at the stranger in front her in silence.
“CEO Chen,” Wei Chu greeted Chen Kai politely and then glanced sideways to see Su Le’s expression before carrying on, “It’s currently out of work hours. If there is anything, please come back tomorrow morning.”
“Niu Niu, let’s talk,” Chen Kai begged. His originally stone cold expression changed slightly. “I know that I have wronged you for all these years. I don’t have a hidden agenda; I just want to talk to you for a bit.”
Su Le looked at her watch for a second before saying emotionlessly, “Alright, you have one hour.” But when she finished talking, she suddenly added, “CEO Wei is also coming with us. You don’t mind, right?” With another person present, she believed that her father would not say anything too outrageous.
Wei Chu naturally understood Su Le’s intention, so although being the 3rd party was obviously not his style, he still agreed because something intangible like style meant nothing in comparison with pursuing his wife. —————-
In a coffee shop, Su Le held a drink but she had no intention of drinking it. All she did was listen to Chen Kai talk about his regrets and his struggles. After he was finished, Su Le just nodded her head and said, “Ok, I know now.”
Chen Kai saw Su Le’s expressionless face. He was a little shocked. Su Le didn’t express any anger, blame, or sadness like he had expected. Her current emotionless state was more than frightening.
Maybe he had never existed in his daughter’s heart as her father and he was therefore not important to her.
He lifted his head to look at Wei Chu and suddenly said, “I know you like Su Le. So please look after her in the future, and don’t do anything wrong like I did. Otherwise, you’ll end up just like me.”