Fifty-Five

 Watching his eyes pause for a few seconds, Su Hao said, "No need."

She came out of his embrace, wearing shoes with a slight heel, and walked quickly towards the door. After swiping her card to exit, she realized he had somehow gotten into the neighborhood.

Well, with roses that could win over Uncle Lin at the duty room, what could a mere neighborhood gate do to stop him? She walked with her head down, remembering the moment their eyes met. She saw herself in his eyes, and it seemed there was a hint of gentleness in his gaze. Su Hao didn’t want to think too much about it, but the man’s footsteps followed her.

In a few seconds, he caught up to her, looked down at her, and with a smile on his lips, asked, "Wanna date?"

His low voice brushed past her ear.

Su Hao shot him a fierce glance.

Zhou Yang touched the corner of his mouth, "Then I'll ask again tomorrow."

At the staircase entrance, Su Hao quickly ascended the steps. The setting sun cast its glow on her back, exposing a bit of her fair neck. Following behind, Zhou Yang’s gaze lingered on her, and for once, he didn’t say anything flirtatious.

The two of them climbed the stairs, one after the other, their footsteps echoing. They were alone on the staircase, and Su Hao noticed from the corner of her eye that his hands were in his pockets, revealing a multimillion-dollar watch. His arms were well-toned, and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, still looking as roguish as ever.

Su Hao withdrew her gaze, refusing to look any further.

Occasionally, he still had that high school demeanor.

Perhaps he was born charming.

As they neared the third floor, Su Hao abruptly turned around on the stairs and glared at him. Zhou Yang, who had been about to light a cigarette, paused.

The next second, he instinctively put the cigarette away, "Hmm?"

Su Hao: "Go back."

Zhou Yang raised an eyebrow, "Can't I come in for a drink?"

"No."

"I want to see Aunt Cheng."

Su Hao was speechless.

At that moment, Zhou Yang’s phone rang. He frowned and answered the call, his casual demeanor vanishing.

"Speak."

"The last batch of materials had issues." Lu Qi's voice was calm but slightly gritted.

"Got it. I'll be there now." Zhou Yang replied while looking at Su Hao. Seeing him take the call, Su Hao quickly turned and rushed up to the third floor. With a click, the door opened, she went inside, and the corridor instantly fell silent.

Zhou Yang was speechless.

Back home, Cheng Ling was working with flour at the dining table. It was still early. Seeing Su Hao return, she said, "I made you a cup of lemon honey water, it's getting cold. Go drink it."

"Okay." Su Hao washed her hands, then picked up the cup and stood by the table, drinking water and chatting with Cheng Ling. As the sun slowly set, the mother and daughter's conversation filled the room with warmth.

Cheng Ling didn't mention returning to Huijiang City.

Su Hao was secretly happy.

"Did you talk to the landlord?" Cheng Ling asked while kneading the dough. Su Hao, sitting on a chair, nodded, "Yes."

"What's he like?"

"He's alright." Su Hao could barely recall Zhang Xinhua's face. In her impression, this guy was also quite young, calling Zhou Yang "brother." But the person she chatted with on WeChat seemed rather mature.

"That's good. Keep in touch. The upstairs has been noisy lately. I guess the landlord will be back in a few days. I'll see him then." Cheng Ling felt a bit more hopeful, her spirits lifted.

As for Tang Rui, Cheng Ling knew Su Hao wasn't interested. However, as someone who had been through it, she could see the affection in Tang Rui's eyes. She hoped Su Hao would have the upper hand in a relationship. With Tang Rui, Su Hao should have the upper hand. Cheng Ling glanced at Su Hao, who was playing with her phone, and didn't bring it up again.

Last night in the kitchen, she talked for a long time, and Su Hao didn’t respond, so she pretty much understood her feelings.

After dinner, the mother and daughter watched TV on the sofa.

Su Hao's WeChat kept buzzing.

She was in her loungewear, leaning against the armrest of the sofa, legs curled up, replying to messages.

Su Xi’s birthday was supposed to be this weekend, but she said she had read the date wrong and it was next week.

Su Hao couldn’t help but laugh.

Aunt Su Xi was really adorable.

Meanwhile, z also sent her a message.

z: Have you had dinner?

Su Hao: Just finished. You?

z: Still busy. Do you like drinking?

Su Hao: Not really, I can't drink much.

z: I can tell.

Su Hao: Really?

A few minutes later, another message came.

z: Is there really a ghost path at Huijiang University?

Su Hao: How do you know about that?

z: I visited Huijiang University during a trip to Huijiang. I walked down that path, thinking it would never end, like it was really going to last forever. But it turned out to be just a wall that could be pushed open. Pretty clever design.

Su Hao: Yes, when I first started school, my roommate tricked me into going there. Halfway through, I found myself alone and got scared.

z: You're quite the scaredy-cat.

Su Hao: Do you like Huijiang a lot?

z: Yes, very much.

Su Hao: Do you like Licheng?

z: I grew up here. It’s my root. I don't have strong feelings about it, but if my loved ones were here, it would feel more like home.

Su Hao's heart skipped a beat reading this.

This person knew how to speak well.

z: Do you have a sense of belonging?

The question left Su Hao at a loss for words.

After a few seconds, she sent a smiley face.

The man replied again.

z: Seems like you don't have it yet.

z: What would make you feel a sense of belonging? Hmm?

Staring at the chat screen, Su Hao was even more unsure of how to respond. He seemed to be probing, but not really. It felt like a normal conversation, yet each sentence seemed to keep her guessing, trying to dig something out. Su Hao thought, this person is skilled. She smiled and sent a few emojis.

z: Want to have an emoji battle?

z: I'm not very good at it.

Su Hao: Me neither.

z: Hmm.

z: Are you at home?

Su Hao: Yes.

Twenty minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Su Hao, holding her phone, got up and opened the door to find a delivery man standing outside with a large bag of items. "Are you Miss Su?"

"Yes."

"This is from a Mr. z."

Su Hao took the bag, and a quick look revealed cakes, fruits, and all sorts of snacks. There was even a card inside, signed by z.

Su Hao glanced at her phone.

A WeChat message popped up.

z: Did you receive it?

Su Hao thanked the delivery man, brought the items inside, sat on the armrest, and replied.

Su Hao: I received it, it's too much.

z: Eat more.

Cheng Ling leaned over, rummaging through the bag, and asked, "Who sent this?"

She had a knowing look, smiling slightly.

Su Hao said, "The landlord."

Cheng Ling exclaimed, "Oh my, how considerate, buying so much. There's even chocolate. What's this?"

She pulled out a box.

Inside were various types of snow cakes.

Su Hao peeked, "Snow cakes."

"These look delicious." Cheng Ling liked sweets too. Su Hao hummed in agreement, then edited a message to thank z.

But he didn’t reply.

Su Hao and Cheng Ling ate some, and the leftovers were put in the fridge. Cheng Ling picked some out to take to the office the next day.

After washing up, Su Hao checked that Cheng Ling was asleep, then returned to her room and lay down.

She instinctively picked up her phone.

Just as she glanced at it, a message came through.

z: Going to sleep? Good night.

Su Hao: Good night.

The next day, there were roses again at the gatekeeper’s station. This time, the bouquet was much larger than the one from yesterday. Su Hao also asked Uncle Lin to handle it, carrying her breakfast and snack bag upstairs. When she arrived at the company, several people were staring at her, and one was shaking their leg vigorously. Su Hao asked helplessly, "What's going on?"

Qiqi ran over eagerly, took Su Hao's bag, and winked, "That handsome guy who tied your shoelace yesterday came again after work?"

"You don’t know, the entire building knows about this now. And not just that, people are even asking me what his name is."

"You have to be careful," Qiqi followed Su Hao to her desk, grabbing some breakfast to eat while the others took the rest. They didn’t leave, though; they stood behind her, eavesdropping.

Su Hao turned on her computer and asked, "What do I need to be careful of?"

"Be careful of people trying to steal him away. When he glanced at those women, they were startled, but after regaining their senses, they were interested in him. They even came over to ask me about him."

Su Hao opened the back-end system, her tone calm, "He's always like this."

There are always women interested in him wherever he goes.

Qiqi said, "Then he has to love you enough so that you feel secure."

Su Hao smiled but didn’t reply.

At that moment, Yan Chong came out of his office, furious. He threw some documents on the table, "Fei Festival is really shameless! Damn it! I quoted them an astronomical price!"

Still dissatisfied, he gave the table a hard push, "Ugh, what kind of people are they!"

"What happened?" Qiqi, wiping oil from her mouth, ran over to ask.

Yan Chong sat down, saying, "They launched another website, spending money aggressively to grab traffic. This morning alone, they took 35% of our traffic!"

"Seriously?"

Qiqi jumped up, "That company is too much."

"Linkuo and Chengfeng have already been acquired!" Yan Chong was livid. Supporting his knee, he thought for a moment, "If necessary, we’ll spend money too."

"Fight to the end."

Qiqi said, "I agree."

Su Hao said, "I'll handle it."

Everyone's fighting spirit was ignited, and they stopped gossiping about Su Hao, returning to their stations to work. By the afternoon, Meitong had reclaimed 80% of the traffic, with orders pouring in, keeping Su Hao incredibly busy. Sweat covered her forehead as she sat in front of her computer and saw an email.

She opened it.

Lu Qi: Miss Su, I greatly admire you. Even with all the money Mr. Zhou spent, he couldn’t beat you.

Meanwhile, Li Yi, Xu Dian, and Zhou Yang were gathered together. Jiang Yu walked in with a document, smiling as he tossed it to Zhou Yang, "I heard you lost to Su Hao?"

Zhou Yang paused while flipping through the file, a cigarette dangling crookedly from his mouth.

Xu Dian took off his glasses to clean them, laughing, "Not only did he lose, he lost quite badly."

"Hahaha, serves you right!"

Li Yi said, "It's bad enough you can't win her over, but to lose to her too, how embarrassing."

Zhou Yang said nothing, giving them a few glances, then bit his lip and opened his tablet, asking Lu Qi, "What’s the situation now?"

Lu Qi said, "We have only 10% of the traffic left."

"Hahahahahahahaha"

Zhou Yang was silent.

Alright then.

My wife is still the best.

Today, there was no way to leave work on time. Busy until after 8 p.m., Qiqi and her husband treated everyone to dinner at a small shop below Su Hao’s building. They discussed plans to visit Dong City next, spurred by Fei Festival’s actions that led them to boost sales and achieve half a month’s worth of sales in one day.

In high spirits, Yan Chong decided to move the team-building event to this weekend.

Su Hao was also looking forward to it.

This felt different from the atmosphere at Fei Festival.

No scheming, everyone moving forward with a common goal. Fei Festival’s acquisition attempt only united Meitong’s team more.

It was 10:30 p.m. when she got home. Cheng Ling waited for her to return before going to bed.

Su Hao moved quietly as she got her things ready. After showering, it was past 11 p.m. She lay down on her bed, hesitated, then picked up her phone.

z: Busy today?

Su Hao: Very busy, just got back.

z: Must’ve been hard.

Su Hao: What about you? Are you home?

z: Not yet, still out.

Su Hao: Hmm.

About ten minutes later, as Su Hao was getting sleepy, her phone buzzed again.

She picked it up to see.

z: There’s something I want to tell you. Actually, I’ve fallen in love with a girl from Huijiang.

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