I'm Hungry

Friday had come, and Lai Mingjie walked in his office after having his brisk walk to the abandoned bridge. Xu Rouguang hadn't shown up again, but the demon king knew it wouldn't be the case for so long. He noticed how his office lobby had become a little bit crowded as the people were installing the new desk and the new computer. Liu Qiu was happily working on her tasks before noticing Lai Mingjie.

"Director Lai, good morning." She customarily stood up and bowed to greet. The other workers in the office stopped working for a moment to bow down to him. He only raised his hand to acknowledge them. Liu Qiu went to Lai Mingjie and took his coat from him. "Director, almost everything's set for next week!"

"...you sure are excited." Lai Mingjie didn't even bother with her sparkling eyes. This auntie would be facing an exemplary dashing man—exquisite even—all day starting next week, and it was understandable that she would love every moment of it. Then again, the director just kept on convincing himself that Liu Qiu was doing it for herself.

"Of course, of course. We need fresh faces here." Liu Qiu giggled as she went to hang the coat at the stand. She felt so restricted with all these other workers in their office. If anything she could have gossiped a lot to Lai Mingjie by now.

Her eyes flickered as he walked inside his inner office. She looked at the folders she was supposed to submit. How stupid of her.

Liu Qiu collected the reports and promptly walked to the door. She then eyed at the workers, the supervisor catching her cold gaze. The lady didn't mean to look down upon installers, but her message was clear: if they mess up anything in the office, they will pay with blood. She opened the door and walked in. The supervisor gulped down and patted his workers before urging them to hurry.

Lai Mingjie looked up as she entered and didn't bother upon seeing the folders she was holding to her chest. Liu Qiu then put them down at a side and smiled widely at her boss. "Jie, aren't you excited? He'll be here next week."

"Why should I get excited about a new employee? Auntie Qiu, you're reading into this too much." Lai Mingjie hummed as he continued to ignore her excitement. He had been seen acting strangely around Xu Rouguang, and that had caused him problems already. Yes, having his elderly secretary think of something unconventional between the two of them was a problem for him. Not that he was disgusted, but it was just all his actions would be attributed to this misconception. He wasn't attracted to Xu Rouguang; he only very intrigued that the headhunter was behaving strangely. Also, if he may, the general was getting rather affectionate.

'Affection' was never anything that could be associated with either Xu Rouguang or Emodao. They were two sides of the same coin, and they had been at war with each other for a hundred years until General Xu succeeded. If one of them would grow to be the opposite of the other, that would be quite disastrous. However, that was what Lai Mingjie needed at the moment. He needed to move out of his reach while watching him intently. If Xu Rouguang messed up hundreds of thousands of years later, why should Emodao be implicated?

Liu Qiu noticed the indifference on Lai Mingjie's face. She then noticed the neatly folded blue scarf hanging from the side of the chair. She never recalled Lai Mingjie liking another color aside from red and black. Besides, the fabric was too thin for this weather. Lai Mingjie hated the cold, and he would always put on layers and layers of clothing. This piece of garment didn't match any of his belongings.

However, Xu Rouguang was different. He wasn't wearing anything thick despite the coming of winter. If anything, he was like an immortal descending from the heavens of everlasting spring. He was like a cool breeze that was still warm enough to make people comfortable. His face and bearing were otherworldly, just like the exploding charms from the man. Right, his neck was bare when he entered the office that day.

Why would Lai Mingjie keep Xu Rouguang's scarf with him? Why was he holding it when he entered that Monday? It didn't matter if they had a fateful encounter, but for him to keep something like close.

Liu Qiu curled her lips and excused herself. She almost pranced towards the door before opening it. She saw that the installers were almost done with the work desk. Her eyes fell on the spot where Xu Rouguang would be sitting starting next week. She giggled inwardly before continuing to work. The weekend was her favorite part of the week, but she was too excited to pass it by.

Back in Lai Mingjie's office, he was aware that she was gazing at the blue scarf. To be honest, Lai Mingjie had forgotten to return it before Xu Rouguang left that day. It's been days since it was sitting on the side of his chair. For some reason, there was a strong concentration of heaven and earth essence in it; and Lai Mingjie was trying to absorb all of it. Then again, he was only a mere mortal right now. The best it could do for him was to keep the seat warm.

Lai Mingjie paused his work while the screen loaded. He hesitated to take off another layer of coat from his body but did it anyway. He burred at the cold and wore the scarf around his neck. Just like what he suspected, the scarf was bestowed with the essence to expel the cold. No wonder Xu Rouguang wore so thin.

Thinking about it, he didn't seem to be wearing thick clothes that night as well. He even removed his jacket because of all that blood.

"I shouldn't think about it too much." Lai Mingjie only shook his head while working again. He never understood the source of Xu Rouguang's power. He only knew him as a headhunter general that didn't die no matter how fatal his wounds were. There were times that they would be both holed by each other's weapons, and yet they would only bathe in their own blood until one would retreat. He could even explode any part of Xu Rouguang's body aside from the head, and the bastard general would appear again in the next few weeks.

Before he could get immersed in work again, he heard giggling from the door. He lifted his gaze and saw Liu Qiu trying to stifle her giggling. A frown became his answer before she tried her best not to laugh along the line. "Director Lai, they would be connecting the computer to the network. Your connection might get affected for a few seconds."

"Sure." Lai Mingjie knew it was already bad to be seen wearing the blue scarf. He could only continue ignoring her hinting. He waved his hand to shoo her away. The door closed, and Lai Mingjie leaned back against his seat again. His gaze went to the blue scarf around his neck and sniffed it a bit as he closed his eyes.

Xu Rouguang's scent never left the material. It continued to smell like those heavenly flowers only grown in Heaven and brought down to Earth by those immortal maidens.

Lai Mingjie opened his eyes and murmured. "I'm hungry..."