So It Turns Out You’re a Fox Spirit (GL) - Chapter 31
On Friday, it was time for couples to become restless again. Since Zhou Yi set Yu Tong as his target, he abandoned his previous blind date strategy, no longer casting a wide net and getting entangled with multiple women. Instead, following the principle of quality over quantity, he carefully pondered how to please the woman in front of him~
Speaking of dating, it basically boils down to eating, drinking, and having fun. So, Young Master Zhou planned to take Yu Tong to see a movie this Friday night.
Again, bad friends. This matter should have nothing to do with Le Xiaoyao, but in the end, Young Master Zhou dumped the task on her.
“Xiaoyao, just help me this one time! I’ll really be grateful, buddy! Alright, alright, I have something to do now, so I’ll take that as a yes~”
He’s so accomplished, his skill of first chopping, then reporting hasn’t diminished at all~ He actually asked her to have dinner with his potential wife?
Shouldn’t dinner and a movie be a fixed combination? If you don’t have time for dinner, then don’t ask her out for a movie? Le Xiaoyao finally understood. Zhou Yi knew Yu Tong was a hot commodity in the company, always coveted by the single men. That’s why he placed Yu Tong next to her, keeping an eye on her at all times. Looked at this way, didn’t Le Xiaoyao feel like she was a spy? A spy protecting his potential wife for Young Master Zhou!
“Fu Jin?”
At the bus stop, Fu Jin was on the phone while waiting for the bus, “Xiaoyao, you don’t need to pick me up today. I’m going back first. Let’s eat together tonight.”
“Mhm, then wait for me at home. But I might be off work a little late today, around 6 o’clock.”
“I’ll wait for you.”
While waiting for the bus, she bumped into Professor Zheng, the short, stout middle-aged man. “Hey! Professor Fu is leaving so early today?” In his impression, even if she didn’t have class, Fu Jin would stay in the office until five before leaving. It was strange.
“Mhm, no class this afternoon.”
Professor Zheng actually wanted to ask, You don’t usually leave this early even when you don’t have class.
Le Xiaoyao only realized the “mission” Young Master Zhou had given her after agreeing to eat with Fu Jin. What should she do? Thinking of this, she became even more depressed. Ever since Zhou Yi found a match, her private life had been disrupted!
Because she still had a little work to finish, Le Xiaoyao didn’t want to push it to next Monday. Since she didn’t have to pick up Fu Jin today, she worked overtime for a short while~ When she finished her work and looked up, the office was already empty. Only Yu Tong was still “holding fast” at her post.
“Xiao Yu, let’s go home!” Le Xiaoyao came out of the office and locked the door.
Yu Tong finally looked up, then stood up and smiled at Le Xiaoyao, “Supervisor Zhou… said he needed to talk to me, so I’ll wait a bit longer. Sister Xiaoyao, you go first, it’s fine~”
See, office romance is this suffocating. It was clearly a date, but she had to say the supervisor needed her for something. Le Xiaoyao looked at the empty company. It wasn’t right to leave a weak woman alone here, especially since Zhou Yi had specifically instructed her not to neglect his potential fiancée. Alas, she must owe him in her past life!
“Supervisor Zhou’s matter won’t be settled anytime soon. Let’s eat first, and let him pick you up later. If you don’t mind, let’s go to my place to eat. It’s not far.” Le Xiaoyao thought, Wouldn’t that solve everything? Why didn’t she think of it sooner?
Yu Tong politely declined a couple of times and then agreed. “Thank you, Sister Xiaoyao.”
The people were gone, so the sound of high heels on the marble floor was exceptionally crisp and loud. Waiting for the elevator, Ding…
When the elevator door opened, she was stunned. Huang Chenchen? Big Sister Huang was puffing out her cheeks, blowing air. Her entire face looked like it had been scalded by boiling water; it was almost smoking. She kept fanning herself with her palm.
Le Xiaoyao saw she was still wearing formal attire. Did she come down from upstairs? That must be CEO Xu’s office. “Huang Chenchen? Why are you here?”
Oh my god! Huang Chenchen was distraught. It was already this late, why were there still people in the company? And it was Le Xiaoyao?! Didn’t this girl never work overtime? “I… I needed to see CEO Xu for something.” The elevator just reached the first floor, and Big Sister Huang rushed out impatiently. Le Xiaoyao asked from behind, “Dinner together tonight?”
“You eat alone. I have something else to do…”
Big Sister Huang actually refused her dinner invitation? Since she was suspended, she seemed completely abnormal.
Young people are enthusiastic. Along the way, Yu Tong kept asking Le Xiaoyao for advice on design issues and said she especially liked Le Xiaoyao’s designs; they had depth.
Being the object of someone else’s admiration naturally makes one feel smug, and Le Xiaoyao was no exception. Later, Yu Tong became sticky like a piece of taffy, directly linking arms with her~ Although Le Xiaoyao felt a little uncomfortable, she couldn’t just push her away…
In the kitchen, Fu Jin trembled as she put a plate of raw spare ribs into the pan. The boiling hot oil met the spare ribs, instantly sizzling and splashing countless tiny oil stars, scaring her into quickly retreating with the spatula. After all, it was her first time cooking. The seemingly simple steps in the recipe turned out to be so difficult to execute!
But wasn’t it easy when she saw Le Xiaoyao cook before?
It was just heating the food at high temperature and seasoning it with condiments. She didn’t expect the process to be so tortuous.
Fu Jin regretted it. Why did she bet on a certain person’s comment about her being “good at eating and lazy at working”? Looking at the back of her hand, there were already red patches. It must have been from the scalding just now. Forget cooking; she hadn’t even touched a spatula before.
But the dish was already in the pan, so she had to grit her teeth and finish it. Just then, a smell of burning came from the pan. It turned out the heat was too high, and several pieces of spare ribs had turned into charcoal. She quickly turned down the heat. The sizzling sound in the pan gradually disappeared. Only then did she dare to approach with the spatula, pick out the charred spare ribs, and throw them into the trash can, leaving only a few presentable pieces.
Salt, appropriate amount? Cooking wine, appropriate amount? Appropriate amount, appropriate amount, appropriate amount…
Professor Fu felt that the person who wrote this recipe was too imprecise…
Finally, the dish was served. As expected of someone in design, the plating and color matching were impeccable. Fu Jin looked at the three dishes she made: stir-fried spare ribs in oil, stir-fried broccoli, and tomato egg drop soup. Actually, they looked pretty good when placed on the table.
Ding dong~ They’re back…
Fu Jin took off her apron, checked her hair in the mirror, and then went to open the door, completely losing the panic and confusion she had while cooking.
Two people? When Fu Jin opened the door, she saw a strange woman linking arms with Le Xiaoyao…
Le Xiaoyao introduced, “This is Xiao Yu. She’s an employee in the design department.” Before she could introduce Fu Jin, Yu Tong smiled and said, “Professor Fu, I know you. You and Sister Xiaoyao are quite popular on the company forum~ Hello, I’m Yu Tong.”
“Hello.” Fu Jin’s tone was neither warm nor cold, as usual.
Yu Tong only released Le Xiaoyao’s arm after entering the apartment. Fu Jin naturally took all this in.
“You must be hungry after waiting so long! I’ll go cook~ Xiao Yu, make yourself comfortable.” Le Xiaoyao remembered there were still spare ribs in the fridge~
Fu Jin said faintly, “No need. I made a few dishes casually.”
Le Xiaoyao glanced at the dining table. There were indeed several dishes, and they looked quite good. Didn’t Fu Jin say she couldn’t cook? Was she possessed by the God of Cookery today, capable of reaching this level so easily? When she first cooked, it was simply unpresentable.
In front of Yu Tong, Le Xiaoyao felt awkward questioning Fu Jin, so she could only say, “Ah… then I’ll go serve the rice.”
Fu Jin was about to go with her, but Yu Tong beat her to it, “Sister Xiaoyao, I’ll help you.”
As Le Xiaoyao lifted the lid of the rice cooker, a smell of burnt rice rushed out, but the rice on the top was like watery porridge? She was stunned: Fu Jin, how on earth did you cook rice like this?! Either there was too little water and it burned, or too much water and it became thin. How did you manage to make it both burnt and thin…
This made Le Xiaoyao worry that the dishes on the table might be poisonous…
“Ouch…” Yu Tong accidentally scalded herself while serving the rice.
“Be careful. Are you alright? Let me do it.”
Fu Jin was in a foul mood. She had tried so hard to cook a meal for her, and Le Xiaoyao not only didn’t express gratitude but also brought someone home, completely ignoring her? She was full of suppressed anger; she didn’t have the appetite to eat.
At the dining table, no one of the three started eating first. Finally, Le Xiaoyao had to take the initiative, picking up her chopsticks and chuckling, “The broccoli is a beautiful color, huh…”
It was crunchy upon tasting. Was it really stir-fried? But since it was Fu Jin’s first time cooking, Le Xiaoyao gave her some face, chewed a few times, and swallowed it, “Not bad~”
Fu Jin directly picked up a piece of spare rib and “threw” it into Le Xiaoyao’s bowl, “Eat the spare rib.”
Le Xiaoyao also addressed Yu Tong, “Xiao Yu, you eat too, don’t be shy.”
Yu Tong responded but didn’t pick up her chopsticks.
This wasn’t a spare rib; it was practically an ancient fossil! Le Xiaoyao bit it once, no response. She bit harder, still couldn’t chew it. Fu Jin kept staring at her, seemingly waiting for her to say it was delicious~ Le Xiaoyao wanted to cry. This was a spare rib. Was she supposed to swallow it whole like the broccoli? Would she survive that?
Fortunately, Yu Tong’s phone rang at this moment, diverting everyone’s attention.
“Mhm, okay, no problem, goodbye.”
Le Xiaoyao seized the opportunity, immediately put down the spare rib, and asked Yu Tong seriously, “Was that Zhou Yi?”
“Mhm, Sister Xiaoyao, Professor Fu, thank you so much today. Supervisor Zhou has something else, so I’ll be leaving now.” Yu Tong stood up. Le Xiaoyao somehow felt she was trying to escape, and any normal person would probably be scared away by Fu Jin’s “cooking skills.”
“Isn’t he coming to pick you up?” Le Xiaoyao asked, thinking, Zhou Yi, do you even know how to date? Making her go by herself?
“Mhm, it’s okay. I can go by myself.”
At this moment, Le Xiaoyao also stood up, grabbed her coat and bag, “Then I’ll take you there… It’s late, and it’s not safe alone. Fu Jin, you eat first… I’ll be back soon.”
Fu Jin just nodded slightly, not saying anything.
The two walked out the door.
“Sister Xiaoyao, are you living with Professor Fu?”
Le Xiaoyao paused, “Oh… we’re neighbors. We usually eat together.”
Upon reaching downstairs, Yu Tong suddenly squatted down, clutching her stomach. Le Xiaoyao saw something was wrong and asked, “What’s wrong? Are you uncomfortable?” Judging by the posture, it was one of those few days a month for women.
“Mhm, that place hurts a bit…”
What to do? It was time for a hero to save the day, so why was Zhou Yi nowhere to be seen? He deserved to not find a wife! Le Xiaoyao had no choice but to take out her phone, about to call Zhou Yi…
“Sister Xiaoyao, don’t call Supervisor Zhou. Actually, he called just now to say he had something to do tonight and couldn’t come.”
Oh my god! Having such a friend was infuriating. Now she was left to deal with another mess. It was really Yu Tong’s fault, too. Why didn’t she just tell the truth earlier… Le Xiaoyao half-squatted and asked her several questions in a row, “Are you alright? Do you need to go to the hospital? Can you still walk?”
Yu Tong nodded, “It’s an old problem. It’s fine. I just need some rest.”
“Then I’ll take you home~ You rest well…”
By the time she dropped Yu Tong off at home and was ready to drive back to the apartment, it was almost 10 p.m.! It was the first time Le Xiaoyao had seen such a highly motivated employee, which was embarrassing… Even though she wasn’t feeling well, she insisted on talking about work-related matters with her. Although it was good for a newcomer to be eager to learn, this Xiao Yu was too exaggerated. They also happened to click on work topics, and Le Xiaoyao felt awkward suppressing her enthusiasm. They talked about everything under the sun for two hours!
“Oh no, Fu Jin…” Le Xiaoyao suddenly remembered this. Fu Jin went back early today to prepare dinner for her, right? But then she ran into all these messy things today and didn’t consider Fu Jin’s feelings. Thinking of this, Le Xiaoyao quickly called her…
“The number you have dialed is temporarily unattended.”
Unattended, unattended, still unattended.
Is she angry? Or asleep? Le Xiaoyao was very annoyed. How could she forget? Even she couldn’t forgive herself. Fu Jin, she must be very disappointed, right? She casually turned on the car radio, and an urgent news flash was being broadcast…
“…A fire broke out in apartment 2306 of building X in XX Apartment complex… Casualties are being tallied…” This was followed by a live broadcast. The reporter spoke urgently, and the scene sounded chaotic and noisy.
No… Wasn’t that the apartment complex she was living in now?! Le Xiaoyao heard the familiar room number, and her heart sank instantly. She slammed her foot on the accelerator, “It’ll be alright, it’ll be alright…”