It’s a double update! So go back, go back!
Every now and then, work gets very dull…alright, I was just being modest, it 'often' gets very dull, however that wasn't the case today. Today, a client made me want to swear, made me want to scream, jump up and smash my computer to pieces with my foot, made me want to follow his line connection, climb to get inside his computer, then crawl out from his monitor looking like Sadako, throttle his neck, lift him, and throw him against the wall.
This client asked me to alter 23 design drafts. Not only that, he made me change the background colour of the photos of their products for about 10 times, for instance, changing the #0bdb41 green with a #09dc3f green. I swear, whoever dares to say that they can tell the difference between these two colours with their naked eye, I will use a compass to poke them blind.
When Fu Pei who was in his office yelled, "Chen Xiaoxi, go make me a cup of coffee." I glared at him coldly through the open door which quickly made him clamor frantically out of his office to instead make me a cup of a coffee. When he placed the coffee on my desk, he said, "Don't be angry, the market of their products is quite large. If it wasn't because he was difficult to work with to a degree where he's already hated by both men and gods, he wouldn't have turned to our company. You've worked hard, I'll go out to buy you egg tarts for your afternoon tea!"
When Situ Mo heard it, she immediately craned her neck at us, and yelled, "I want egg tarts too!"
Fu Pei shot her a dark and chilly gaze, and said, "Oh, is that so? Then Miss Accountant, would you like to hand in the accounts I asked you to do yesterday?"
Situ Mo shifted back to her computer.
When Fu Pei left, Situ Mo said, "A pile of rotten accounts, tell me how I can finish it in one day! I want to give my husband a call to cry and complain."
I was beside her laughing so hard as I was listening in on her acting coquettishly on the phone call with her husband, saying, "Hubby, hubby, quickly invent a machine that can turn nasty people into fine powder. I want to turn that Fu Pei into fine powder and dissolve him in water for you to drink. I am sick of him. I'm going to have him nourish your body………"
I gave it some thought, I too fished out my phone to call Jiang Chen. My call rarely gets answered by him. Oftentimes, when I give him a call, they are received by other people. So I gently and cautiously probed, "Hello, Jiang Chen?"
"What?" There has always been a very distinctive quality to Jiang Chen's manner of speaking — clear and brief with a hint of indifference.
I twisted a finger around my phone strap, "Nothing la, it's just that I have a client who is very loathsome……"
"I'm busy right now, just wait for my call." He said, then I heard the beeping of a busy tone.
I had no choice but to put my phone away, Situ Mo was still bickering with her husband, speaking one minute then being quiet the next. I looked at her side profile for a long while, she was baring her fangs and brandishing her claws but with a happy smile plastered on her face, upon seeing her smile I also couldn't help but smile.
It has always been said that everyone's happiness is similar yet everyone's misery is different. In fact, I don't think so. It's true that there's different kinds of misery, but there's also different kinds of happiness. It's just that, those people who can make us happy has always been the same ones.
You see, Situ Mo's husband answering her calls for a chitchat is happiness. Jiang Chen hanging up on me is also happiness. Forget it…..it's almost as if I'm a sick masochist……
About ten minutes later, my phone was ringing inside my bag, I thought it was Jiang Chen so I searched for it in a flurry only to find out that it was actually Fu Pei. He said he has to stay outside for a little longer as he has something to do, and that the egg tarts were already bought and was handed over to somebody inside the building for safekeeping, I had to go down to take it.
Holding my phone on one hand, I disclosed the matter to Situ Mo, then quickly went downstairs to get the tarts.
The one safekeeping it was a 50-60 year old veteran who's very humorous and affectionate. I exchanged a few words with him, and even persuaded him to try the tarts, but he said, "You young girls eat a lot of sweet stuff, really too girly, take it away, take it away."
I waited a whole two minutes for the elevator but eventually got impatient. The office was just on the 5th floor anyway so I decided to take the stairs. I was almost halfway there, panting, when my phone rang. This time however, it really is Jiang Chen.
"Hello, are you done being busy?" I was speaking at the same time, climbing the stairs. "What were you busy about just now?"
It was silent on the other end of the line for quite a long while, I've already taken four, five steps but still didn't get a response, so I asked suspiciously, "Jiang Chen? Jiang Chen?"
"Kuh." He coughed, then asked with the tone of his words sounding a little uneasy and grave, "What are you doing?"
"Climbing the stairs." I answered him honestly, "What's the matter?"
Again, there was silence. I stood still, unable to make head or tail of it. I couldn't help but add seriously, "What's going on? Did something happen?"
"Hic…..your panting" He said, then there was a momentary pause, "It sounds very much like……"
"Like what?" I was confused.
"When you're on the bed."
………….
I already lifted my foot up to place on the first step of the next flight of stairs but silently took it back. Looking at the window on the landing, and seeing my appearance being reflected on it, I…….the mighty…..the mighty Chen Xiaoxi just lingered on the stairs, flushed red in the face.
"Are you blushing?"
"No!" I firmly countered.
Silence dwelled over him for just two seconds before he began laughing softly nonstop, "Haha……you blushed…..hahaha…….."
I was fuming with rage between gritted teeth, "Jiang Chen! I'm going to kill you!"
Hence I, while he was laughing nonstop, didn't say a word, and dare not pant as I head back up to the office.
I sandwiched the phone between my shoulder and my ear, listening to Jiang Chen's intermittent laughter, as I beckoned Situ Mo to come over to get some egg tarts. Situ Mo mouthed a silent question, "Boyfriend?"
I nodded with a smile.
Situ Mo suddenly smiled, then wailed loudly "Chen Xiaoxi, Fu Pei doesn't love me anymore, he only loves you now…..wuu wuu…..and these egg tarts were bought just for you……wuu wuu……"
Jiang Chen's laughter in my ear came to an abrupt stop, I glared fiercely at Situ Mo, "Situ Mo! Do you believe I'll choke you to death?!"
She shook her head, pulling a face at me.
I gave her one last hard look then carried the box of egg tarts with both hands, and walked back to my desk to sit down, "Don't listen to my colleague's nonsense."
I picked up an egg tart and bit a mouthful, "She's very bored."
Jiang Chen said, "En. What were you saying about a certain client just a moment ago?"
"That damn client was so nitpicky to death, always asking me to alter the design drafts, and the changes he wanted were all insignificant. I got so angry that I felt full from anger." I shoved the rest of the tart I was holding on my mouth.
Jiang Chen said, "You're full from anger yet you can still eat egg tarts."
"It's just a figure of speech, I…kuh kuh kuh…..I…..kuh kuh……." I couldn't stop coughing from choking on the flakes of the crust.
He berated me, "Stop talking."
When my coughing gradually subsided, a long sigh came through the phone, "I'm hanging this call, lest you choke on everything you eat, and stop eating those egg tarts. When you're finally done coughing, drink a glass of water to moisten your throat."
The phone beeped, signalling that the call has been cut off again. I could imagine Jiang Chen looking up at the heavens, with a look of one asking something wordlessly. Even if he has an impatient look on his face, he still looks very cute.
When it was time to go home, Fu Pei said he's treating us out to eat our first hotpot to officially welcome the winter. When we were downstairs, I actually caught sight of a car that looks very much like Jiang Chen's car. But because his car is just a regular silver sedan, and seems to be a very common look, I hesitated but still told Situ Mo and Fu Pei, "It seems to be my boyfriend's car, I'll go take a look."
Fu Pei wolf-whistled, then said, "Audi A5. Chen Xiaoxi, did you boyfriend receive a lot of red packets?"
"So the car with the four circles is called an Audi? I've always been calling this as the Olympics car." Situ Mo said.
I stood still in my place, hurriedly nodding my head in agreement, there was a feeling of finally being able to find one's bosom friend, "Yes! Yes! The Olympic rings but missing a circle.
Fu Pei rolled his eyes, "I really can't stand the both of you, you've probably never heard of the greatest saying, 'We must work hard, for my Dior and your Audi."
(T/N: "….and our children's Oreo" lol so according to them, having these things is a sign that a family is doing well. But basically all guys wanna own an Audi as it's a telltale sign of a very successful man.)
Situ Mo and Fu Pei were then arguing about how Audi and Olympics only had a one-word difference. I was on her side, blindly echoing what she was saying, till the car slowly drove over to our side, and the car's window rolled down, Jiang Chen who was sitting inside called, "Chen Xiaoxi, come here." (T/N: Audi in Chinese is Aodi 奥迪, while Olympics is Aoyun 奥运, Dior is also Diao 迪奥, a reverse of Audi.)
"It really is you." I hopped and skipped over to him, "Fu Pei said this car is very expensive, so I almost wanted to say that I must have been mistaken."
Jiang Chen got out of his car, then reached out his hand, "Hello, I'm Jiang Chen."
I was clueless, wondering what was it that he was trying to do, so I stuck my hand out to correspond to his actions. Not even managing to hold his hand, I was unknowingly shoved to the back by someone who pushed me by the head. When I looked up, Fu Pei was already shaking hands with Jiang Chen, "Hello, I'm Fu Pei."
I rubbed my head, glaring at Fu Pei, "Is this Picasso head something you can afford to just push around?"
Fu Pei said, "Your head actually looks very abstract."
I brandished my fist at him, Jiang Chen then pulled me to stand on his side, he also shook hands with Situ Mo who was all smiles as she said, "I've been looking forward to meeting you for a long time."
After introductions were done, I told Jiang Chen, "How did you find the time to come over today? We're just about to go eat hotpot, boss is treating us."
The I asked Fu Pei and Situ Mo, "Can I bring my family member?"
"Of course."
As a result of the instigation done by Situ Mo and I, our party went to what was dubbed as most expensive hotpot place in the city. We ordered the Mandarin Ducks pot, the clear broth was especially for Jiang Chen as he has a weak stomach and can't eat spicy food. (T/N: There are many kinds of hotpot, Mandarin Ducks hotpot is the most popular one which has a divider with one containing clear, mild broth and the other is a spicy broth.)
Jiang Chen actually likes to eat spicy food, but once he eats them, he'd get stomachache. It has already been tried and tested, very much like how quickly my dad gets diarrhea when he eats seafood.
When he sneakily dipped his chopsticks on the spicy side, my throat aptly felt a little itchy, so I just casually coughed twice, I just don't understand why my sensitive Classmate Jiang Chen had a guilty look on his face and took back his chopsticks.
"Baby Momo, help me pass over that sauce." Fu Pei said.
Situ Mo shot him a chilly gaze, "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me baby for you to understand? Get it yourself."
Fu Pei turned to me instead, "Xiaoxi, darling, can you pass over the sauce for me, I have a slice of beef and mutton I just dipped, I'm going to give you these two slices.
Jiang Chen took the sauce instead and squeezed some on Fu Pei's bowl.
Fu Pei was all smiles, thanking him profusely, "Jiang Chen, I've heard that you and Xiaoxi came from the same place, what is it called again?"
"X county in X city, it's a small county in the south of Guangdong" Jiang Chen said.
Fu Pei let out an 'oh', then casually asked, "How is it there?"
When I heard his question, I thought I'd take the chance to promote my hometown — my hometown's air, my hometown's soil, my hometown's people. In general, everyone who is in the literature and arts possesses profound sentiments towards their hometowns. For details, please refer to Shen Congwen's "Border Town" which spur the boom of the tourism industry of Fenghuang County in Xiangxi.
However, I did not even have the time to organize my words when Jiang Chen opened his mouth, and said, "Oh, it's just a small town, and the people there don't just casually call other people, darling."
After those words were said, there was awkwardness, there were looks of shock, and there were looks of glee.
While everyone was still reeling from his words, Jiang Chen seized the opportunity to take two slices of white radish from the spicy broth……