Chapter 37 Chapter 37 Mr. Zhuang came unexpectedly...

The last time they took a ride on a rainy day, it seemed like they were still in Suzhou. The difference was that this time, there were only the two of them in the enclosed space.

"You really don't have to see me off. The school bus stop is right after you walk in from the university station--"

Zhuang Youkai glanced at her, "You're already sitting in the passenger seat, and you're still being polite to me?"

Zhao Manzhi clutched the seat belt and laughed softly, "This is the art of Chinese etiquette."

He didn't say anything else, and started the car with a curved mouth. This time it was an antique Mercedes-Benz, not too ostentatious, and only experts could see its value and would not cause her any trouble.

Perhaps it was because the rain in the south was particularly heavy, or perhaps he wanted to stay with her for a while longer, Zhuang Youkai didn't drive fast, and he couldn't even feel the bumps on the steep mountain road.

The rain curtain was weaving thinly and densely, and the drumbeats that fell were like a pounding heartbeat. Zhao Manzhi even felt that she could hear her own careful breathing.

When working with Zhuang Youkai, such silence is not rare, but Mr. Zhuang is always surrounded by too many people, so this kind of alone time away from the workplace is particularly special.

Unfortunately, good times always pass in the blink of an eye. Seeing the academy building getting closer and closer, Zhao Manzhi actually felt a little regretful from the bottom of her heart.

The car slowly stopped. She popped out the seat belt buckle and said thank you softly, "Thank you, boss."

Zhuang Youkai looked at her, "I'm going to Switzerland on a business trip next week. You should give Jeffery the recent important matters before Sunday. He will come back with me this time and can share some of your work." "

Understood." Jeffery was the administrative assistant she had found before. She had heard of his name for a long time but had never seen him in person, so she was looking forward to hearing this. "Do you have any other instructions?"

The man took a breath, his eyes sank again and again, and after a long while, he said, "Don't run around when I'm not around, take care of yourself."

Zhao Manzhi smiled, "I'm flattered by Mr. Zhuang's sudden concern."

"Promise me."

He was unusually serious. Under the dim rain, the movement of his throat could be vaguely seen. Although Zhao Manzhi felt puzzled, she tried to reassure him and promised softly, "Okay, I promise you. I'm only going to Shenzhen this weekend, and I have a presentation next week, so I can only stay in the school, it's very safe."

Zhuang Youkai looked at her deeply and looked away, "There's an umbrella on the left, just take it."

Not only Zhao Manzhi felt puzzled, but Zhuang Youkai himself didn't know why he made this sudden reminder. It was probably the first time he was so far away from her since returning to Hong Kong. He was always afraid that something would happen that he couldn't handle thousands of miles away, so he was particularly worried.

Zhao Manzhi got off the bus with an umbrella. Just after crossing the road and looking back, a school bus stopped and blocked the other side of the road tightly.

Originally, she just wanted to take a look at Mr. Zhuang, but now, this look back seemed like an unfinished farewell.

Was it because of time? She actually felt regretful. It was a pity that she couldn't see him, and it was a pity that she didn't say goodbye properly. And to make up for these regrets, she would have to wait until a week later at the earliest.

Students who arrived at the station got off the bus one after another, holding their schoolbags or coats on their heads, and hurriedly squeezed under the eaves. Only Zhao Manzhi went upstream. Her shoulders were bumped again and again, but her steps became faster and faster.

"Hey! What are you doing..."

"Sorry, sorry.

" "Don't look at the road!"

"Sorry, sorry..."

She finally pushed through the crowd, and the bus started again. The muffled roar in the rain was like a tiger roaring in the mountains, deafening.

Soon, the mechanical beast drove away, and the scene that was once blocked by it under the rain curtain became clear again. In front of the black Benz, a tall figure stood with an umbrella, and the amber eyes that became gentle after being soaked in the mountain rain and mist fell on her like a ray of light.

Originally eager to see him, Zhao Manzhi became timid at this moment. She slowed down her pace and looked at him for a while across the not-too-wide-narrow mountain path. Finally, she mustered up the courage and ran towards him through the wind and rain.

"What are you doing here?"

"Aren't you leaving?"

The girl's eyes were bright, more attractive than the priceless jewels at Sotheby's. Her wet long hair hung on her shoulders and cheeks. Zhuang Youkai subconsciously reached out to brush it away for her, but in the end he still stopped just a few feet away and taught her coldly, "It's raining so hard, you'll catch a cold if you play any more."

Obviously, he didn't want her to catch a cold, so he sent her off.

"It's okay." Zhao Manzhi looked up at him and said very seriously, "I'm here to say goodbye to Mr. Zhuang."

"I just said goodbye

." "That doesn't count."

How could it count? She had so much to say, but the moment she saw him stop for her, she forgot everything.

Zhuang Youkai just smiled and tilted the umbrella back a little so that she could stand closer, "Anything else to say?"

Zhao Manzhi didn't have any of her usual eloquence. The words turned around in her mouth for several times before she stammered, "Nothing. You told me to take care of myself, and so should you."

"With Jeffrey and Uncle Ning here, it couldn't be better."

"What's the time difference in Switzerland?"

"Six hours behind here."

"Then do I need to sort out your emails this week? Will you reply?"

Zhuang Youkai understood her hidden meaning, "No, but you can send me a WhatsApp."

Zhao Manzhi said "oh", thought about it, and it seemed that there was really nothing to ask, so she spoke reluctantly, "Okay, this time we can really say goodbye, I wish you all the best."

"You too, remember what I said." He patted her head gently, "Go back soon, don't catch a cold."

"Okay, goodbye, Mr. Zhuang."

"Goodbye."

This time, Zhao Manzhi ran back to the apartment, her heart beating very fast. She pushed open the lobby door before she dared to look back. She saw Zhuang Youkai open the door of the cab and got in.

She touched the place where he had just tapped, but it was a very light touch, but it seemed to be burning hot. She felt like she was walking on clouds, her head was heavy, and she felt dizzy and falling down.

Maybe she was really sick, she had a bad cold called missing, which started to ferment slowly on the day Mr. Zhuang left.

Zhao Manzhi took several deep breaths, ran to buy a bottle of Coke and drank it, then she felt her head clearer. She threw away the garbage and was about to go upstairs when she was stopped by a worker in the dormitory supervisor's office, "Is this classmate Zhao? Room 632?"

She nodded blankly, "What's the matter?"

"Oh, it's like this. There have been more reports of thefts in the apartment recently. When we checked the CCTV today, we found that the items you put in the refrigerator yesterday seemed to have been taken away. Could you please come and confirm it?" The worker could hear that her Cantonese was awkward, so she switched to Mandarin, "If something is really lost, we will find the thief later and ask them to compensate at a discount."

"Okay, okay!"

At this moment, Zhao Manzhi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Pantry thefts are not uncommon, but this is the first time that such a gratifying investigation has been conducted. She quickly watched the video with her co-worker, Ajie, and after confirming the amount of lost items, she cooperated in registering. Ajie saw that she was holding three boxes of expensive snow-skin mooncakes, and offered to lend her the staff refrigerator for one night. She could ask a co-worker to pick it up before leaving tomorrow.

Zhao Manzhi was very grateful, and after storing the items, she took a photo and went upstairs to take a hot shower.

After doing all this, Fang Ling just came back and asked her, "Manman, where are the mooncakes you bought before? I'll freeze them in the refrigerator together."

"No need, let's eat them together." She applied essential oil to her half-dried hair and had no time to look at Fang Ling, "Why don't you accept the red envelope? Is the money enough?"

"It's just two boxes of two, not much." Fang Ling put the bag down and asked tentatively, "No need, do you mean you bought it?"

Zhao Manzhi slowed down her movements and combed the ends of her hair with a comb. "Didn't I talk to Huanye about sponsorship today? They gave me a few boxes by the way. I think the quality is better than what we put together, so I'll share it with everyone."

"That's good. Then let's share these two boxes after I take a shower. I feel like the ice packs have melted all the time, and I don't know if it will affect the taste."

"Okay, I'll wait for you." Looking at Fang Ling's back as she took the bath towel and toiletries and prepared to go out, Zhao Manzhi asked suddenly, "By the way, who did you go out with today?"

Fang Ling was stunned, "Me? No one..."

"You said you were at the foot of the mountain, but the background of the photo you took of me was not Mei Xin at the foot of the mountain, and you have never liked to drink, but today you smell a bit of plum wine." Zhao Manzhi tried to finish her words calmly, "The first time I asked you, you subconsciously wanted to cover up. Could it be that I didn't know the other person, or it was inconvenient to say?"

Fang Ling's hand that was originally holding the door handle dropped, turned around, met her gaze and said, "I am hiding something, so what about you, don't you have anything to hide from me?"

This means to be open and honest.

Zhao Manzhi had regretted countless times for holding back the matter of Huanye for a long time, and wanted to tell Fang Ling directly, but recently the two of them were always out of sync, and it felt abrupt to bring up the topic. But today, when she smelled the smell of alcohol, her alarm bells began to ring, even so, she still hoped at the last moment that the man was not Chen Muchuan.

"I'm a part-time intern at Huanye, and also Mr. Zhuang's administrative assistant." She finally revealed the secret, feeling relieved. "The reason I didn't tell you was because I saw that you were not in a good state of looking for a job at that time, and I was afraid that you would doubt yourself and be unhappy if I told you, so I wanted to find a suitable opportunity to tell you."

After saying this, she paused, and continued, "What about you, did you go out with Chen Muchuan?"

Fang Ling leaned against the door, looking up at the dim ceiling light in the small dormitory, vaguely a mosquito flew towards it, not only wanting to pounce on the light, but also wanting to fight with it, but it was like an ant trying to shake a tree, overestimating its own ability.

Suddenly, she felt a sense of grief for the death of a rabbit, and smiled sadly, tears unconsciously overflowing her eyes.

"Manman, has anyone ever told you that you always exude a sense of superiority? You are so self-righteous that you think I would lie because your intern is unhappy, and you condescendingly ask me to stay away from Chen Muchuan. You say you don't care about him, but when you see he has someone else around you, you act like a tyrant. Why?"

Fang Ling wiped her tears and took a deep breath. "Yes, you have a good family background, you are beautiful, you are good at studying and you are capable, so everyone likes you, and you take it for granted. You are used to being favored and taken care of, and you don't know how to be nice to people. So you are just pretending to be friendly and pretending how to be good friends with people. In fact, have you really put yourself in other people's shoes? Are you nice to me because you think I deserve it, or do you just treat me as an object of your performance?"

Fang Ling had never said these words, and Zhao Manzhi had never thought about it this way. It was like thunderclap to her ears, and she froze in place with her mind blank.

Fang Ling continued, "I am not good-looking enough. No matter how hard I try, I will never become the focus of the crowd, nor will I be lucky enough to get the offer I want, but I also have the right to like someone, and I should approach him based on my feelings. Maybe you think Chen Muchuan has many faults, but to me, he is an excellent and dazzling person. Is it wrong for me to like him?"