My Boss Always Flirts With Me - Chapter 63

Chapter 63: A Turning Point

Yuan Cheng felt that He Chi had been unpredictable lately. The mood was clearly low yesterday, but it was back to normal today. He pondered it for a long time but couldn’t figure it out, worried that there was a problem with the project at hand.

“Did you hear? The boss slept in the office yesterday,” Yuan Cheng said to Shang Qu.

Shang Qu was surprised. “Yeah, I know. Was he busy with the merger?”

Yuan Cheng replied, “No, the business collaboration was finished long ago. The investors have even scheduled a tea, so how could there be a problem? That’s why I’m asking you.”

Shang Qu chuckled. “I don’t handle business. What, do you want me to tell your fortune?”

“…That won’t be necessary,” Yuan Cheng said.

Shang Qu had been extremely idle lately. He brewed some tea for himself, blew on the floating leaves, and said, “If it’s not work, it must be a personal matter. Does President He have anything else to worry about?”

Yuan Cheng nodded. After thinking for a moment, he agreed quite a bit: “You’re right. It might really be that reason. After all, his wife is on a busi—” He stopped there, letting out a hiss, and looked at the leisurely person beside him. He probed, “You know something, don’t you?”

I know a whole lot, but how could I tell you? Shang Qu thought to himself. “The Buddha said: ‘It cannot be spoken.'”

“…” Still being mysterious, Yuan Cheng thought. I have unspeakable things too. Want to compare?

The two exchanged a look and tacitly ended the discussion. Shang Qu continued to drink his health-preserving tea, and Yuan Cheng held his documents and went to find He Chi.

…

Saving the commute time, He Chi naturally became the first person to arrive at work this morning. Yuan Cheng was very grateful that the boss hadn’t woken him up at 6 AM. He didn’t delay others, only “involutioned” himself. A manager like that was a blessing to the working class.

While Yuan Cheng’s mind was running wild, he maintained his usual professional demeanor. The morning report was very detailed, and He Chi found no fault with it.

“Today, your focus is on pushing forward the PC and AR new product projects, and also…” Yuan Cheng was mentally taking notes when he heard He Chi stop talking. He looked up, waiting for him to continue.

“The latest data on the shipment volume of the Southeast Asia AP production line—has it come out yet?”

“Thirty percent is complete. The first batch will be delivered at the end of the month,” Yuan Cheng said. The production line manufacturing was synchronized with the product launch. Mass production had already begun after the new device was confirmed.

“Does the schedule need to be adjusted?” He cautiously confirmed, as this data had been reported a few days ago. The boss specifically brought it up again. Was he dissatisfied?

“Does the presence or absence of our people on the business trip have any effect on the factory’s production efficiency?”

“This…” Yuan Cheng thought he had heard wrong. “Huh?” Don’t you know whether it has an effect or not?

Across the desk, He Chi looked at him, calm and imposing. In a flash, a bolt of lightning struck Yuan Cheng’s mind. Damn, that guy Shang Qu was right! It really has nothing to do with work!

He immediately gathered his wits and replied, “The main purpose of our company’s business trip is for communication and learning. It has nothing to do with production efficiency. Both parties have signed a contract, and the delivery dates for the three batches are set.”

He paused slightly there, swallowed, his mind working at lightning speed. After much deliberation, he made the most astute decision of his life. Before the boss could speak, he said, “How about we have the colleagues on the business trip come back early?”

Observing facial expressions and body language was the special skill of a president’s assistant. Ever since he discovered the relationship between Manager Fang and the boss, he felt his mind had become clearer! As it turned out, his guess was accurate. Hearing this, He Chi’s slightly leaned-forward posture changed to leaning back against his chair, appearing more relaxed, and his expression softened a little.

“Okay, let’s do that. Inform them as soon as possible.”

The extreme brainstorming session was over. Yuan Cheng let out a long sigh of relief in his heart and said, “Alright, I’ll send the email right away.” Oh my, ‘as soon as possible’… should I have suggested ending the trip immediately… After reconfirming the content he needed to submit for the day, Yuan Cheng prepared to get to work.

…

Before he could turn around, He Chi called out to him again.

“Yes, sir?” Yuan Cheng stopped and replied.

He Chi: “A private matter.”

The boss was willing to share a private matter with him. Yuan Cheng was flattered. He quickly nodded and listened intently.

“As a married partner, if the other person suddenly tells you they’ve been pursued by many people,” He Chi mused, “what would be your reaction?”

This private topic was a bit too explosive, enough to be a top post on the company’s anonymous forum. Yuan Cheng was stunned for a long time, almost short-circuiting. He adjusted his mindset before speaking: “That… I’d be angry, wouldn’t I?”

“Angry?”

“Yeah, because of jealousy. You’d definitely feel uncomfortable if your partner was being pursued by other people.” It was actually quite awkward to say this, as it was the boss’s private matter. And he… he never would have thought that Manager Fang, who seemed so meek and well-behaved on the outside, would play such a bold game behind the scenes!

Seeing He Chi lost in thought, Yuan Cheng felt an urge to move, wanting to leave the office. He felt as if he were in a gossip-forging furnace, burning with a searing heat.

“Or you could ask the other person,” he suggested.

He Chi looked up, gesturing for him to speak freely.

Yuan Cheng took a deep breath and said, “If the other person said that on purpose, they definitely weren’t trying to make things difficult for you. At most, it’s a… little flirtatious game.”

He Chi didn’t seem to understand his words. Yuan Cheng was forcibly fed a mouthful of dog food and then had to explain the origin of the dog food. The torture was too specific, enough to make any listener cry.

“It means they want to make you jealous,” Yuan Cheng explained.

“Being jealous—does that have an effect on our relationship?”

Yuan Cheng: “This…”

“It depends on the person. If it’s Manager Fang, he’s probably just trying to make you care about him a little more.”

Every sentence was full of emotion and adjectives, vague and half-true. Only the last sentence had a quantifiable indicator, but it was also beyond his comprehension, because he couldn’t find a system bug, so he naturally didn’t know how to improve it.

“What do I need to do?”

Yuan Cheng was dumbfounded. He was silent for a good ten seconds before speaking: “I don’t really know what happened between you and Manager Fang. Based on my previous experience, maybe the other person is unhappy about something, which is why they’re deliberately acting out. You can think of it as… acting spoiled.”

“A pet will act spoiled with its owner when it’s hungry. A child will act spoiled with its parents when they can’t get candy. When you’re in a relationship and your emotional needs aren’t being met, you act spoiled with your partner. It’s probably like that. As for what you can do, I may not be able to give you a reference.”

After he finished speaking, there was a long pause of silence and blankness before He Chi let Yuan Cheng leave. He didn’t say, “I understand, I know,” as he usually did. He simply thanked Yuan Cheng for taking the time to answer his questions. For the rest of the time, he needed to think hard, or rather… digest it all.

…

Although he was clueless for the time being and wasn’t very good at this—it was like being abruptly pushed into a completely new field, where at first you feel mostly confused. He was feeling mostly confused at this moment. In all the years of his past, no one had ever taught him how to handle a problem like this. He had neither seen nor experienced it. Any memory related to emotion was dark and heavy, a far cry from a soft, bright word like “acting spoiled.” The villa that occasionally appeared in his memories never saw the light. Besides the sound of arguments, there was the sound of bowls and porcelain shattering. The doors of the rooms were often locked from the outside. Because he was small, he could only look through the keyhole and see the distorted shadows outside. Later, he finally left, only to find that he had just entered the next unfortunate cycle.

Therefore, when he was able to take control of his own life, he excluded all accidents from his plans. An accident could lead to a loss of control, and a loss of control could breed fear. This was not a good experience.

But what if… what if what’s out of control is his relationship with Fang Ci?

If all the operators are changed, what will happen? Will it be good or bad?

He felt as if he were standing at a new beginning. The road ahead couldn’t be quantified or reasoned with logic. The shadow of a black swan was faintly visible in the mist, and a single flap of its wings could create a bigger upheaval than a product innovation. He suddenly felt a little breathless. He took a moment to compose himself, stood up, and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.

Looking out from the 22nd floor, Southeast Asia was over 3,200 kilometers away from this city. The climate and temperature varied slightly with each latitude; even the weather forecast couldn’t predict it accurately. Every kilometer, every day, countless black swan events could occur, altering the course of fate. His worries seemed insignificant in comparison.

When an accident created by a black swan arrives, the first thing to do is prove its existence. Years of habit made him choose, as a first step, to verify it using the line of thinking Yuan Cheng had provided. This was the only thing he could do at the moment. He sent a message to Fang Ci, skipping the greetings and going straight to the point.

[Yuanyuan, when you said that last night, were you trying to make me jealous?]

A long time passed before Fang Ci replied. It was just one sentence, one that sounded like him and yet didn’t:

[So did you get jealous, Teacher He?]

He stared at the line of text, not looking away for a long time.

His black swan, thousands of miles away, had flapped its wings.

The door to his heart was suddenly struck, and a crack appeared, letting in a light he had never seen before.