"Excuse me, is Xiao Ming here?"
There was a moment of silence in the room, six eyes met, and Yun Shi Yu jumped away from the desk as if struck by an electric shock.
Xiao Ming thought to himself, Well, great! With that leap, you've practically turned yourself into a ghost.
Jiang Xue's expression stiffened for a moment, but then she quickly flashed a smile, "The receptionist sent me to the chairman's office to find you, I thought she was pulling my leg!
Miss Yun, have you eaten yet?"
"No... Yes, I have eaten." Yun Shi Yu looked as if she might as well have "I'm a thief, catch me" written on her face.
Shaking his head, Xiao Ming stood up to greet her, his demeanor natural, "What brings you here? Couldn't you wait even a day to see me because of your uncontrollable longing?"
"You smug thing!"
Jiang Xue picked up the insulated container, "I was at a client's house today, and I came across a small place that specializes in braised pork nearby. Thinking it wasn't far from here, I bought some for you."
Braised pork...
Xiao Ming had never thought that there would come a day when he would not want to see his favorite dish.
Seeing his expression like he was constipated, Jiang Xue was slightly taken aback, "Oh, have you already eaten?"
"No, it's just that I feel like I'm in for a treat today."
Xiao Ming chuckled and turned to pick up a lunch box from his desk.
"Look, this is the craftsmanship of the chef from Yunding Restaurant.
Let's both try it in a bit and see whether the top chef's cooking is delicious or if the small street shop has a unique flavor."
Jiang Xue glanced at Yun Shi Yu with a smile, "That's something we do need to taste properly. The last time I was at Yunding, I was so scared I didn't care about the food at all."
Last time she ate at Yunding, it was when she was nearly driven to jump off a building by Cao Bangxi. By bringing it up now, as smart as Yun Shi Yu was, she could certainly tell Jiang Xue was subtly expressing her displeasure, her face turning red as if on fire.
"I'm starving, let's eat and talk."
Xiao Ming pulled Jiang Xue to sit down on the sofa.
Jiang Xue looked at Yun Shi Yu again and said teasingly, "It's not very nice of you to eat in Yu's office like this, should we not move to yours..."
"It's fine, it's fine, go ahead and eat! I just need... need to go walk off the food, I ate too greasy at lunch."
With that, Yun Shi Yu hurriedly left the office, stopping Xiao Ming from explaining that it was actually his office.
What is even happening here? I've been completely transparent, I haven't done anything wrong.
He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Picking up the chopsticks, he grabbed a piece from each type of braised pork and began to eat, soon raising an eyebrow in surprise.
The craftsmanship of Yunding's chef was, of course, unquestionable, but what surprised him was that the small shop's cooking was not bad either.
The difference between the two lay in their styles: Yunding's chef prepared it with flavors from the South, a tad sweet; the small shop followed the Shu Region style, spicy and fragrant.
Both had their merits and were equally good.
"This small shop has some good skills! We should go there often," he said to Jiang Xue with a smile, scooping up a mouthful of rice.
Jiang Xue dabbed a bit of sauce with her chopsticks and sucked on it thoughtfully, "Insincere! Why do I feel like the dish Miss Yun brought tastes a lot better?"
"Then you have this one."
Xiao Ming didn't hesitate to push the lunch box from Yun Shi Yu in front of his wife.
Jiang Xue's mouth curved slightly, and she asked again, "What are you doing here? Is there still so much work to keep you busy at noon?"
"Busy with what? I could have stayed home today," Xiao Ming said, devouring his food without looking up, "but I made a bet with Sir Duan last night about who could make more money trading stocks today.
Our computer at home is too old; it's got better specs here, and the internet is faster."
"You know how to trade stocks?" Jiang Xue was extremely surprised.
Xiao Ming chuckled, "Your husband knows many things. Brace yourself; there'll be plenty of surprises for you in the future."
"You start panting the moment someone calls you fat. Can't go a day without showing off, can you?"
Rolling her eyes at him, Jiang Xue suddenly realized something and lightly punched him, "You almost had me fooled. Who's asking about your job? I'm asking why you're working in Yu's office."
Knew it wasn't going to be that easy to let this go.
Xiao Ming put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, affectionately scraped his wife's nose, and rose to take a business card from the office desk. Handing it to her with both hands, he said solemnly, "My apologies, Mrs. Jiang, allow me to reintroduce myself: My name is Xiao Ming, honored to be the Chairman and CEO of Ruiye Holdings. Please take good care of me."
Jiang Xue looked at the beautifully printed business card, reading over each word silently, and when she looked up again, her expression was stupefied.
Seizing the chance, Xiao Ming kissed her, "Your bewildered look is so cute!"
Regaining her senses, Jiang Xue still looked incredulous, "How could you... Is this company... yours?"
"To be precise, I proposed the founding of it, and Yu, Hanqing, and Siyi are all my partners."
Xiao Ming picked up his chopsticks again, eating as he spoke, "They trust my abilities and unanimously agreed to let me take full charge of the company's operations and management."
"Why would they?"
"Look at what you're saying," Xiao Ming feigned offense, "In your eyes, am I really that useless?"
Jiang Xue laughed, playing along, "Cut it out! A big man acting all spoiled? That's just disgusting."
"Hehe..." Xiao Ming giggled mischievously, hugging her waist, "Don't worry! Everything your husband has earned is through his brains, no casting couch for me, and I certainly haven't sold myself to anyone. My trousers are very securely fastened."
Jiang Xue, her petty jealousy uncovered, blushed and teased back, "You can't ever stay serious for three sentences straight, I'm ignoring you."
"That's perfect, I can eat in peace."
With that, Xiao Ming immediately tucked into his meal with gusto.
Watching her husband, who was gobbling down the braised pork from the small shop like a starving ghost, Jiang Xue pushed Yun Shi Yu's lunchbox closer to him.
"Since you haven't been 'seduced', there's no need to be so picky about a little food. Miss Yun's kindness shouldn't go to waste."
"It's just something her family's chef whipped up; how could there be any special meaning in it?"
"Are you really clueless, or are you pretending with me?" Jiang Xue pouted, "The last time at Yunding, I actually had their braised pork, and the chef made it so much tastier than this, with much finer knife skills. This one clearly looks like Miss Yun made it herself."
Xiao Ming froze, then turned and looked at her, "Wife, are you confused by your irritation? Things were fine with me knowing nothing; why did you have to remind me?"
"What? You think something's going to happen just because you know?"
Xiao Ming shook his head with a wry smile.
Clearly, Jiang Xue was smarter than he thought.
In matters between men and women, sometimes it's easier to deal with things when they're out in the open rather than obscured.
After all, playing dumb can sometimes lead to ambiguity, but once everything is out in the open, there are no more excuses left—only acceptance or rejection.
Today, Jiang Xue had shown the utmost rationality and restraint that a woman could offer.
She trusted that her husband knew what to do. It was enough to speak plainly; there was no need for a dramatic scene that would ruin the hard-earned harmony in their marriage.
In fact, this was the best way to deal with third-party situations.
The wives who chased after and beat up mistresses had failed to grasp the crux of the problem—no matter how alluring the mistress or 'the other woman', the choice was ultimately up to their husbands.
As long as the husband was clear-headed, even if he were thrown into a harem, he wouldn't go astray. After all, there had been emperors in history who remained faithful to one wife for their entire lives.
"Thank you, Xue'er!" Xiao Ming kissed his wife deeply on the forehead, "Even if I die, I will never betray your trust."𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚
"Ptui ptui ptui! What's with this talk of dying? Say it again, and I'll banish you to sleep on the sofa. Hurry up and eat before the meat gets cold."
Seeing that her husband had accurately understood her, Jiang Xue naturally didn't push further. She stared deeply at the business card in her hand, feeling more hope for the future than ever before.