Financial Workplace Survival Guide – CH 022

Chapter 22 ☆, Tensions.

Xin Xin’s suspicions were confirmed in the following segment.

As a group of men and women busily worked on a clay pot, one couple stood out.

That’s right, it was Mary and Han Canghai.

Although Mary’s appearance always stood out in any setting, it wasn’t because of that this time. It was their brilliant debates, penetrating discussions, and incomprehensible content, all delivered at an uncontrolled volume, that had every nearby couple perking up their ears.

As the pottery was being formed, the other tables of men and women would typically hear voices like, “You’re amazing!” “Let me do it!” and “Wow, you’re really good.”

Such meaningless, yet socially motivated, flattery.

But Mary was different. As she sat there, trying to shape the pot into a beautiful shape, Han Canghai would fold his arms and sneer beside her.

“Very good, very good. Miss Zhao is truly a genius. Everything she does comes across as incredibly serious, yet at the same time, it’s hard to tell whether it’s true or false.”

Mary, busy with her hands, kept her mouth shut. “It’s the same here. Mr. Han has a very tight rap. I don’t know how he can tolerate the dust of history where the truth remains obscured.”

Han Canghai, not to be outdone, immediately retorted, “If I remember correctly, the first thing Miss Zhao said to me was, ‘I want to uncover the truth of history.'”

“My truth is probably not Mr. Han’s truth.”

Han Canghai seemed a little annoyed and took a deep breath. “Yes, when I met the flamboyant Miss Zhao here, I knew you never had the truth.”

Mary sneered, “Even if I laid out my truth, Mr. Han still thought I was a thief. A trial by three judges is nothing more than that.”

“If I had been wrong, I wouldn’t be seeing you here.”

Xin Xin sat at the next table, listening to their argument. Every word was sharp but remarkably cultured. While the others were confused, Xin Xin understood perfectly. The central point was, “You said you liked me, so why did you come on a blind date?”

At that moment, Xin Xin’s attention was drawn to Mary’s jar, which had already taken shape.

She and Gao Ling had already gone through the process three times, creating three crooked, hole-less blocks of earth.

But Mary’s jar had a perfectly straight and round opening. This time, she didn’t argue back. Instead, she clasped her hands together, shaping the jar into a beautiful curve. Subconsciously, she turned around and smiled innocently, smugly.

Han Canghai’s forced sneer was replaced by a doting, gentle glance.

Xin Xin and Gao Ling had been distracted from their pottery work for a moment, but now, after watching the excitement, they exchanged a knowing smile at the ugly object they had so diligently crafted.

They planned to try one more time, and if they still didn’t succeed, they’d call it a day.

Xin Xin, never particularly skilled at handicrafts, now carefully formed the watery mixture into a shape.

Gao Ling also tried to extend his hand, helping to maintain the poor, ugly little jar.

Their clay hands were inseparable, but with their combined efforts, the jar finally took shape.

Xin Xin looked at her ugly jar with satisfaction; though it wasn’t particularly attractive, it was still quite good.

“Not bad, our trip today wasn’t in vain.”

Gao Ling wiped the sweat from his forehead. He was chubby; even his hands were chubby, and his smile was adorable. Xin Xin inexplicably thought of Winnie the Pooh, hugging a jar and eating honey, between Gao Ling’s appearance and the ugly jar.

Xin Xin had been so focused on the pottery itself that she hadn’t noticed the cold gaze fixed on her for a while.

The owner of that cold gaze, receiving no response at all, gradually turned from bitterness, confusion, and jealousy to anger.

It was said that people had a strange sixth sense: if someone was constantly watching you, you were bound to sense it.

Xin Xin hadn’t felt anything at all.

Zheng Zaochuan thought angrily, “She’s so happy.” Then, with a critical, almost malicious gaze, he looked at the chubby kid beside Xin Xin, tinged with the most caustic sarcasm he’d ever thought, “Isn’t she always so picky? This? A chubby kid with a blurry face? How can she smile?”

Zheng Zaochuan had accompanied other sponsors and city leaders on a tour of the pottery classroom. Several leaders praised the work and expressed their gratitude to the generous sponsors.

Zheng Zaochuan had no interest in small talk; his gaze was fixed on Xin Xin. She was practically smiling constantly, and every expression vividly conveyed her joy and ease.

The leaders and the numerous sponsors seemed increasingly pleased with the scene before them. They had already begun heated discussions. This event not only helped young men and women find true love but also helped out-of-school girls return to school, a truly significant achievement.

Zheng Zaochuan thought indignantly, “True love? True love when they’ve only just met once?”

In this torment, he could barely resist the urge to walk over and sternly warn Xin Xin not to appear so clueless.

He wondered, for no reason, if Xin Xin really loved pottery that much. If she did, he could probably set up a pottery studio. Why did she have to work here?

As for the possibility that Xin Xin actually loved that chubby boy?

Zheng Zaochuan felt that was impossible.

The night before, at the charity auction, Zheng Zaochuan had spotted Xin Xin at a glance, peering through the crowd. She was wearing a mask, a thin layer of desolation shrouding her, giving off a sense of no-one-to-entertain. Without a single reason, Zheng Zaochuan recognized her, without a single doubt. After completing his auction project, he didn’t hesitate to go find Xin Xin. The event was actually packed with beautiful women, many of whom flirted with him and made overtures.

No initiation, no rejection, no responsibility.

For years, Zheng Zaochuan’s attitude toward relationships had been largely ambiguous, and he thoroughly enjoyed navigating the world of women.

But at this moment, he suddenly realized how profoundly Xin Xin’s presence affected him.

As long as she was there, he couldn’t see anyone else. As if he had antennas on his forehead, Zheng Zaochuan would unconsciously judge Xin Xin’s mood and guess what she was saying based on her expression.

Xin Xin simply didn’t notice Zheng Zaochuan, her attention too focused on the developments between Mary and Han Canghai.

Han Canghai’s feigned indifference, his deliberately sarcastic remarks, and his barely concealed concern and unease all made one thing clear and unequivocal: he was utterly in love.

Xin Xin once watched a debate where one debater argued that free will can’t kill the feeling of love.

People stayed together or broke up for countless reasons. But the feeling of love was so natural that it needed no words.

Xin Xin didn’t want to disturb Mary and went off to have some fun on her own.

Gao Ling didn’t express his affection directly to Xin Xin or rush to learn key information like other men she’d met on blind dates, but he didn’t leave either.

While Xin Xin went to the deck to catch some breeze, he told her about the ferocious kangaroos he encountered while studying abroad in Australia. When they went out to eat together, he explained how he, too, had lost weight due to the white man’s diet, but thanks to his incredible manual dexterity, he was able to feed not only himself but also other students studying abroad.

There was no stirring, no uneasiness.

Xin Xin had met her fair share of men of the opposite sex, both at work and through blind dates. But the first time she met someone like Gao Ling, he felt like a familiar stool or table in her home, a natural, unobtrusive presence. She felt neither delighted nor as if her boundaries had been violated.

“Are you teaching history at University A?” Xin Xin felt that Han Canghai’s demeanor was more like that of a university professor. He possessed the arrogance of an intellectual, tinged with a certain indifference that comes from a long tenure in an ivory tower.

Gao Ling, on the other hand, lacked that quality. He was well-versed in history and the present, yet down-to-earth. Xin Xin was curious about his experience.

Gao Ling smiled and said, “What do you think I teach?”

“History?” Xin Xin asked tentatively. “Or maybe politics.”

Gao Ling’s eyes curved in a smile, as if he had completely lost his temper. “You guessed wrong. I teach physics, applied physics.”

Xin Xin was taken aback. Remembering his claim of starting college at sixteen, she began to admire him. “Impressive! You’re not the genius I imagined.”

Gao Ling said modestly, “I’m not a genius.”

“Good to know.”

Someone unceremoniously pulled a chair over to sit at their table and retorted rather bluntly. Xin Xin was startled, and after seeing who it was, she couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Gao Ling, however, remained calm and nodded.

“Zheng Zaochuan, what’s wrong with you today?”

Zheng Zaochuan ignored Gao Ling’s friendliness and peeled the shrimp on the table naturally, as if he had been a guest there from the beginning, not some strange, uninvited guest.

“I’m hungry. There’s no table left. I’ll eat with you.”

Xin Xin looked at the row of empty tables in the distance and ruthlessly pointed the finger. “There’s one over there.”

Zheng Zaochuan ate the shrimp with a normal expression. “I don’t want to eat alone.”

Xin Xin looked at Gao Ling awkwardly. Regardless of whether their relationship could develop, she thought Gao Ling was a very nice person and didn’t want to embarrass him.

Zheng Zaochuan sat there, showing no sign of leaving. “The meal’s already been paid. Just keep ordering whatever you want.”

Xin Xin was angry. She felt insulted. Zheng Zaochuan showed no respect for either her or her friends.

It was still the same Zheng Zaochuan.

As long as he was happy, he didn’t care about anyone else’s wishes.

Just as Xin Xin was about to attack, Gao Ling smiled and said, “Then, as Xin Xin’s friend, I’ll take advantage of her and eat for free.” He then placed a peeled shrimp on Xin Xin’s plate.

Xin Xin was touched. Gao Ling was truly a respectable man. Just as she was about to eat the shrimp, Zheng Zaochuan swiftly tossed it into his mouth.