What To Do When The Boss Takes A Liking To You chapter 51

Lip injury, neck strawberries

The atmosphere in the car was silent.

Occasionally, faint light flickered in from outside, casting on Xu Le’s slightly intoxicated face, revealing his tense and distressed expression.

He was indeed very embarrassed. Although he wanted to find a topic to talk about, whenever he gathered the courage to glance over, Lan Qing next to him remained calm, with a hint of freezing coldness in his expression, making Xu Le swallow his words.

Although they had hugged and even kissed, it seemed like their relationship had become more strained.

And if one were to really consider it, wasn’t he the one at a disadvantage?

Unconsciously, he remembered the kiss at Qing Bar just now. He really thought he would faint from being kissed.

Due to being inexperienced, he forgot to adjust his breathing, and because of the shock, he almost forgot to breathe. The tingling sensation on his scalp, the weakness in his entire body, it was truly a strange experience.

He still vividly remembered the unique cold fragrance on Lan Qing’s body, and after closing his eyes, the advantage of mixed blood was the long and curly eyelashes. Even the solid embrace belonging to a man was deeply engraved in his mind. He feared he wouldn’t be able to forget it for a long time.

Xu Le pursed his lips and stole another glance at Lan Qing’s cold face, his Adam’s apple trembling nervously, quickly shifting his gaze away.

Unexpectedly, Lan Qing caught his gaze. “If you have something to say, just say it.”

Caught red-handed, Xu Le felt embarrassed. He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s nothing, it’s just… can we forget what happened just now, President Lan?”

“Why should we forget?”

This counter-question left Xu Le speechless for a moment. He decided to skip this awkward topic, thought for a while, but couldn’t figure out what to say.

Suddenly, he had a thought and cautiously spoke up, “Um, President Lan, in my account on A station, there’s a fan who has given me a lot of money, but I noticed that their nickname… seems to be the same as your WeChat name, and the IP address is also the same as yours—”

“You suspect that person is me?” Lan Qing asked.

Unable to discern his expression, Xu Le hesitated and nodded.

Without much hesitation, Lan Qing admitted, “It’s me.”

After confirming his suspicions, Xu Le was first shocked, then confused.

“Why did you keep it from me, keep giving me rewards, and not tell me it was your account?”

Now it was Lan Qing’s turn to be slightly puzzled. “When did I keep it from you?”

“Huh?” Xu Le was even more bewildered.

“The nickname on all my social accounts is my name.”

Shocked, Xu Le widened his eyes. “Huh? But isn’t your name Lan Qing?”

“Ivan is my Russian name, it’s also my name.” Lan Qing said calmly.

Upon hearing this, Xu Le felt incredibly stupid. How could he forget that President Lan being of mixed blood, having a Chinese name and a Russian name was indeed the most normal thing.

In a way, the other party hadn’t hidden anything from him. From a certain perspective, he was even blatantly showing him that Ivan on Site A was none other than President Lan himself.

After that, Xu Le didn’t speak again and obediently kept quiet.

The driver drove the car into the underground parking lot of the residential area, making it convenient for Xu Le to take the elevator directly upstairs.

Before getting out of the car, he quickly whispered to Lan Qing, “Thank you, President Lan, I’ll go up now.”

“Mm.”

It was a faint sound, devoid of emotion.

Xu Le couldn’t help but look at the other person, but caught sight of the wound on Lan Qing’s lips, which he had bitten, and his cheeks instantly flushed red.

After bowing, He dashed into the elevator as if fleeing.

…….

During the break at work, Xu Le still sat with Cao Xinyi and a few others.

Cao Xinyi smiled and asked with concern, “Lele, have you reconciled with your girlfriend?”

“How did the conversation go? If she’s willing to meet you, she must still like you a lot. Just talk it out like any other couple.” Jianxin chimed in.

Although this “girlfriend” was purely fictional, Xu Le didn’t dare to deny it.

Especially since Cao Xinyi was quite perceptive of expressions, he forced a smile, “Haha, it’s all about the same. Anyway, we’ve made up, I guess.”

Jianxin smiled at first, about to speak, but suddenly stared straight at Xu Le’s face.

More precisely, she stared at Xu Le’s lips.

Xu Le felt a bit uneasy under her gaze, tactically drinking the fruit tea at hand to disguise his nervousness. “Ahem, JiE, what’s up? Why are you staring at me?”

But Jianxin wore a suggestive smile. “Yesterday, were you and your girlfriend intimate?”

“Pfft—”

Xu Le nearly sprayed water out of his mouth, quickly wiping his lips with a tissue. “How could that be! I didn’t do anything!”

“Nothing at all? But why do I feel like your lips are a bit swollen, and there are little strawberry marks on your neck?” Jiaxin smiled, her beautiful phoenix eyes narrowed.

This hit Xu Le right where it hurt. He indeed did something last night, but with…

But kissing was one thing, how could there be little strawberry marks on his neck? He didn’t do anything else with President Lan, did he?

Xu Le’s heart skipped a beat, becoming even more flustered and awkward, constantly adjusting his collar, hastily explaining, “Really, Jiaxin, there’s nothing. Maybe I was scratched by my cat, I have a cat at home…”

Xu Le’s behavior, in the eyes of Jianxin and Cao Xinyi, amounted to an admission of guilt.

Seeing him genuinely anxious, Jianxin couldn’t bear to tease him further, poking his shoulder with a smile, “I was just teasing you, got you for real?”

Xu Le instantly breathed a sigh of relief. “I thought something was really wrong. Jiaxin, you scared me.”

“Even if something did happen, it’s okay. We’re all adults, having needs is normal. But you’re still young, feeling embarrassed is understandable. Jiaxin, stop teasing him,” Cao Xinyi intervened timely.

Jianxin smiled, her beautiful phoenix eyes narrowing slightly.

But Xu Le couldn’t shake off the thought of the “strawberry marks” on his neck. He felt too embarrassed to ask them if there were any marks, so he found an excuse to go to the restroom.

In the restroom, he cautiously observed his surroundings, confirming no one was there before approaching the mirror and pulling down his collar to look.

His collarbones were slender and straight, his neck long and smooth as usual, without any suggestive marks.

He finally relaxed.

But thinking about it, President Lan seemed like a restrained and cultured person, unlikely to do anything inappropriate in public. Kissing might be a bit much, but it didn’t count as indecent exposure…

No, he couldn’t dwell on this anymore!

Xu Le felt his face heating up again, his mind replaying the scene from last night. He splashed cold water on his face, forcing himself to snap out of it.

It was like a forced withdrawal.

After confirming he looked normal, he returned to his desk feeling guilty.

He tried to bury himself in work, filling his mind with tasks and avoiding thinking about last night.

He wanted to pretend like nothing happened, hoping that soon President Lan would forget about him, and they could go back to being a respected boss and a diligent employee.

Yes, he aimed to get regularized as soon as possible! That was his top priority.

He even thought that when Li Dongming came to the city, he would rent a place together with him, then find an opportunity to explain the situation about the apartment to President Lan.

He needed to set things right before they spiraled out of control.

Just as he was indulging in his future plans, the surroundings suddenly fell silent.

He was puzzled, hearing footsteps, he looked up towards the aisle and froze.

It was Lan Qing, in a sleek and stylish suit, making him seem even taller and more proportionate.

He walked neither fast nor slow, with the department’s male manager, who was barely over five feet tall, hurriedly keeping up with his small steps.

As soon as he appeared, the surrounding employees fell silent, burying themselves in their work.

Only Xu Le, staring blankly at him.

Seeming to notice the gaze, Lan Qing precisely swept his eyes over to Xu Le’s workstation. In his deep blue eyes, there was no extra emotion.

Cold and plain, as usual.

With just one glance, he turned his gaze away, showing no attachment, and walked straight to his office.

Xu Le watched Lan Qing’s figure, surrounded by his entourage, turn the corner and disappear from sight.

For some reason, he felt a strange emptiness in his heart.

Logically, seeing the other’s calm reaction, being looked at with the same eyes as usual, without any special treatment, he should have felt relaxed.

But seeing Lan Qing act as if nothing happened, as if last night never occurred, Xu Le inexplicably felt depressed.

The kind of depression that comes from being forgotten, being ignored.

His heart also sank, as if covered by a dark cloud, damp and oppressive, making him uncomfortable.

There was also some annoyance, clearly it was something between two people, yet it seemed to have turned into a solo performance for him alone.

But then he thought to himself, after all, this is the company. President Lan must be very busy and wouldn’t have time to think about anything other than work. Not to mention, he had already spoken to him about it yesterday…

He made an effort to push away these thoughts and focused on his work. As long as he forced himself to stay busy, he could avoid thinking about all those messy things.

“Lele, a new batch of samples just arrived. Could you help me move them? It’s not much, just one or two trips.”

There were too many samples for Cao Xinyi to handle alone, so she asked Xu Le for help.

Xu Le naturally wouldn’t refuse, especially since he had just finished his work. “Sure.”

The samples themselves weren’t heavy, and there weren’t many of them, but they were all valuable jewelry pieces, packed in exquisite boxes, which made them look like quite a lot when piled together.

With Cao Xinyi’s assistance, Xu Le easily lifted a tall pile, almost blocking his line of sight.

“Will you be able to see the way? Do you want to carry fewer?” Cao Xinyi asked, somewhat worried.

“No need, I can manage!” Xu Le felt the items were light, and he held them steadily, so he thought he could finish in one trip.

“Oh, then be careful.”

“Mm!”

Xu Le carried the samples steadily, and as he was about to turn the corner of the corridor and reach the sample storage room, he suddenly heard footsteps and voices.

“President Lan, I’ve sent the company’s monthly financial report to your email, and there are a few documents that need your signature…”

The direction from which the voices came grew nearer.

As soon as he heard “President Lan,” Xu Le shuddered all over. It seemed like trouble was coming at just the right moment!

But now he was carrying things and couldn’t easily dodge, so he had to bravely move forward.

He tried to bury his head behind the pile of boxes, attempting to cover his face, and swiftly passed by Lan Qing and the others.

However, the idea was good, but the execution was not easy.

Like a turtle retracting into its shell, Xu Le buried his head behind the gift boxes. After turning the corner, he found himself face to face with a pair of exquisite leather shoes.

Seeing that he was about to collide with the person, he hurriedly dodged to the side, but the samples in his hands weren’t so lucky; they quickly became unstable.

“Oh no!” That was Xu Le’s first thought.

Just as he thought the things in his hands were about to fall to the ground, a hand appeared out of nowhere, securely holding the gift box, and also supporting his arm.

Xu Le was wearing short sleeves and could directly feel the slightly cool hand of the person, but it was powerful, and the hand was as beautiful and slender as a work of art, and very fair, with a somewhat cold tone.

Seeing Xu Le steady, Lan Qing quickly let go.

“Which department are you from? Why are you so flustered? Didn’t you see it’s President Lan?” the company’s deputy general manager scolded.

Xu Le felt extremely embarrassed, as if he wanted to find a crack in the ground to hide in.

It was inconvenient for him to bend and bow with the things in his hands, so he could only bow his head and apologize, “Sorry. .. President Lan, I will definitely be careful to protect the samples.”

“Mm.” Lan Qing responded flatly, his tone calm, his deep blue eyes glanced at Xu Le, “Be careful when walking, pay attention to the path.”

“Ah, okay…”

Because it was daytime, the faintly ambiguous small wound on Lan Qing’s lips was very obvious, reminding Xu Le of what had happened last night.

Xu Le wanted to sink into the ground.

The deputy general manager wanted to say something to reprimand him, but seeing Lan Qing had already walked away, he hurriedly followed.

Xu Le stood dazed in place, then shook his head and quickly put away the things in his hands before getting back to work.

Since President Lan could easily ignore everything, he should do the same.

However, even Xu Le himself didn’t realize that he was inexplicably feeling a little lost right now.