Water and Fire~Chapter 21: Is She Sick?

 

Chapter 21: Is She Sick?

Qin Qianyu looked in the rearview mirror and said, "Leader, let me ask you something. Is your attitude towards Qian Miao a little different?"

Ren Yan raised his head and met Qin Qianyu's gaze in the rearview mirror.

He asked indifferently, "What's different?"

Qin Qianyu's face was full of impertinence. "Of course it's different! You always praise her, but you never praise us much. I'm jealous and resentful on behalf of all of us!"

Ren Yan raised an eyebrow and asked, "How did I praise her?"

Qin Qianyu stiffened his neck and said, "You always say she's good, very good, great, and has made great progress!"

Ren Yan raised a corner of his mouth. "Then how do you want me to praise you?"

Qin Qianyu's eyes drifted vaguely, then bravely returned to their point of intersection in the rearview mirror. Meeting Ren Yan's half-smile, he raised his neck majestically. "Xiao Qin has made further progress recently. Not bad, very good. I'll give you a raise and bonus at the end of the year!"

Ren Yan, as if waiting for a fox to reveal its tail or a rabbit to hit a tree, curled his lips playfully. "Not bad, quite good! You've figured out a roundabout way to get praise and money from me. I see you've been with Chu Qianmiao for so long, and while you haven't improved in other areas, you've picked up all her devious tactics."

Qin Qianyu: "Hehehe, to be honest, Qianmiao definitely taught me that trick, hehehe!"

Ren Yan lowered his head again and continued flipping through the materials. His voice faintly vibrated against the A4 paper.

"Hurry up and pass the insurance agent exam. If you pass, I'll apply to headquarters for a promotion and a raise."

Qin Qianyu was so happy that he stepped on the accelerator. "Okay, boss!"

He drove, happily thinking about the insurance agent exam. Ren Yan lowered his head to look at the materials, his mind occasionally wandering to the square lead type on the A4 paper.

The moment Qin Qianyu asked him the question, he felt a subtle tingle of alarm. He'd thought he was asking a different question.

For example—

Boss, you treat Qian Miao a little differently. Do you have feelings for her?

He wondered what his response would be if Qin Qianyu had asked that question.

—She's funny, so comforting. I don't have anyone as funny as her around me. Yes, I quite enjoy her banter. But it's not to the point where I have feelings for her.

He found his answer and began to calmly review the materials.

A week later, Qin Qianyu returned from a business trip in Hebei and returned to Hanhai Home Textiles to conduct on-site due diligence and write the first draft of the application materials.

Chu Qianmiao was delighted to see him. Her genuine joy, like meeting a long-lost family member, greatly soothed Qin Qianyu's week of traveling under the harsh weather.

Chu Qianmiao studied Qin Qianyu's face and sighed, "Brother Qin, how come you're already tanned after just a week? Hebei's industrial smog is really unkind. They don't even offer to block your UV rays!" Finally, she winked and asked Qin Qianyu, "Is Mr. Ren tanned?"

She asked with anticipation, eager to hear Qin Qianyu describe what a tanned Ren Yan looked like.

But Qin Qianyu curled his lips. "Hmph, I'm not convinced when you mention that. We're both outdoors, looking at projects, and I'm practically chocolate, while he's like smooth, buttery skin. No matter how much he gets tanned, he never gets tanned. It's so irritating!"

Tang Yi asked him how the Hebei project was going, and if he didn't have to stay there to do the initial due diligence. Qin Qianyu replied, "The boss has asked Cui Xijie to take over and take care of the rest."

Chu Qianmiao had heard Qin Qianyu and Tang Yi mention Cui Xijie during their conversation. Cui Xijie was also a colleague in their department, a member of Ren Yan's team, and even a senior figure, even higher than Qin Qianyu.

Elsewhere, Lu Zhonger asked Qin Qianyu if he had finished the first draft of the financial section of the prospectus. "Boss said they plan to apply to the CSRC for guidance and review next week or the week after, and asked us to quickly put together a draft prospectus. The CSRC will need to review it during the on-site review."

Qin Qianyu slapped his thigh. "Okay, I'll start working overtime tonight." After a pause, he grumbled softly, "I always feel like Boss should have taken Cui Xijie to see that project from the beginning. He brought me there for a week, but in the end, not only did he not use me for the project, but it also delayed my writing materials for Hanhai."

Chu Qianmiao stood beside him and kicked his desk. He looked up and saw Ren Yan walk in.

"Do you feel wronged about this business trip?" Ren Yan asked rhetorically as he walked towards his desk, not even looking at Qin Qianyu.

"No, Boss, you heard wrong!" Qin Qianyu flatly denied his complaint.

Ren Yan had already taken his seat. Chu Qianmiao studied him discreetly. Just as Qin Qianyu had said, his complexion hadn't changed at all, still as fair and clean as ever. She thought that if he got married and had children in the future, he'd definitely want a daughter. A daughter would take after her father, and their child would have the added bonus of being tan-resistant from the moment they were born.

"Cui Xijie isn't as good as you in finance. The finances of that Hebei company are in disarray. If he had gone there instead of you, he wouldn't have been able to sort out the tens of millions in back taxes the entire group would have to pay in a week." He pulled out his laptop and turned it on as he spoke.

Qin Qianyu was stunned.

He felt that Ren Yan had truly changed recently, becoming more willing to explain his reasons. And this explanation made him feel truly relieved and elated.

Ten minutes later, Ren Yan knocked on the table and asked his three men, "Who of you has finished writing the prospectus?"

After comparing their work, the three found that Qin Qianyu, who had been away for a week, had the highest level of completion.

"Okay, then you," Ren Yan said, nudging Qin Qianyu.

"???" Qin Qianyu looked bewildered.

Ren Yan called Chu Qianmiao "Lawyer Chu" again.

"Here!" Chu Qianmiao replied immediately.

Ren Yan paused for a second before continuing. Qin Qianyu saw the corner of his mouth twitch.

"Lawyer Chu, please prepare an outline for visits to several government departments, including tax, social security, land, customs, and so on. Tomorrow, you and Qin Qianyu will go to each government department and interview the relevant personnel. Ask them to verify whether Hanhai Home Textiles has been legally compliant and has been penalized in the past three years. Finally, have the interviewee sign the outline. You and Xiao Qin will then take a photo with the interviewee in front of the plaque at the government department to prove that you have indeed visited the department."

"Okay!" Chu Qianmiao replied crisply.

Before leaving get off work, Chu Qianmiao emailed the interview outline to Zhang Teng for review. Zhang Teng replied, saying it was okay. She then sent the outline to Ren Yan.

Ren Yan corrected a few phrasings to make her description more accurate, then sent it back to her. Chu Qianmiao looked at the revised outline and felt the power of his sharpness.

The next day, Chu Qianmiao and Qin Qianyu began visiting various government departments. It was the height of summer heat in Beijing, and the air was so warm it felt like a solid mass, thick enough to cling to a person. After running all morning, Chu Qianmiao felt like she was melting into the solid air, turning into a piece of air amber.

At noon, she and Qin Qianyu decided to return to Hanhai for a quick rest. After taking a taxi to the entrance of Hanhai, Qin Qianyu asked Chu Qianmiao to return to the office while he went to buy some things for her. Chu Qianmiao thanked him and obediently got out of the car first.

She lazily walked into the office and lazily sorted through the outlines and photos of the departments she had visited that morning. Tang Yi talked to her, and she lazily joked back.

Tang Yi asked, "Why does Qianmiao look like she's still half asleep today?"

Chu Qianmiao chuckled, "Spring brings sleepiness, autumn fatigue, and summer naps. According to the season, now's the time for naps. Oh, it's so hot out. Sometimes there are moments when I just don't feel like moving at all and just want to go home and lie down, haha."

Ren Yan came into the room while she was lazily working on her outline. Seeing her laziness and listening to her carefree laughter, his brows gradually furrowed.

Young girls, after all, can't handle hardship. Just running outside, and she's already feeling lazy.

The lunch bell rang. Tang Yi asked Chu Qianmiao to join them for lunch, but Chu Qianmiao smiled and said she couldn't go. The cafeteria food wasn't good, so she'd eat out later. Lu Zhonger and Wang Sian went to the company cafeteria first. After the three of them left, Ren Yan stood up and walked over to Chu Qianmiao's desk.

She was editing something on her computer. He tapped her desk with his fingers.

Chu Qianmiao looked up at him lazily, her face pale, her eyes dark, her long hair cascading over her shoulders. She stared at him without blinking.

Suddenly, a soft spot softened in his heart. But he still decided to speak out.

"Only one day out, and your sloppy nature is back? Projects can't always be done in the office. Projects aren't the place to raise a young lady."

Chu Qianmiao listened quietly, pursing her lips. In the end, she offered no defense, only lowering her head and mumbling, "I'm sorry."

Ren Yan glanced at the top of her dark head and set off for the cafeteria.

Ren Yan and Tang Yi were halfway through their meal when Qin Qianyu arrived in a hurry. He took his plate and sat down across from Ren Yan, asking, "Boss, can I go alone for this afternoon's visit?"

Ren Yan raised his head and an eyebrow. "No, the brokerage firm and the lawyers have to go." After a pause, he asked, "Did Chu Qianmiao say she didn't want to go?" He could still hear her smiling words, "I don't want to move at all. I just want to go home and lie down."

Qin Qianyu quickly denied it. "No, no, Qian Miao is incredibly strong. She's actually sick. She looks like she has heatstroke. She vomited twice this morning, yet she insisted on running around with me through several departments, apologizing along the way and saying, 'Sorry, I'm sick, sorry, sorry.' Honestly, I've never met a girl who can handle it more. She was in such a state. I told her to go home and rest at noon, but she refused, saying that if she went back, there wouldn't be anyone to cover for her at the lawyers' office. She insisted on going. She also told me not to tell anyone she was sick. She said she was most afraid of being looked at differently. This girl is really something. She looks skinny, but she's also so stubborn and unyielding. I just bought her some medicine and sent it back."

Ren Yan frowned.

"Is she sick?"

She's sick, so she's so lazy. She doesn't want to be seen as ill, so she's joking and joking around.

He thought of the way she looked up at him. Her snow-white face, her dark eyes, unblinking. She just tilted her head back, listening quietly as he lectured her.

The food he had just eaten seemed to have grown arms and legs, crawling disobediently through his stomach, making him feel like vomiting.