Chapter 111 — Eating Tofu

Pei Yueran brushed it off her mind and went to Li Chuanmo's office.

She spoke immediately she entered his office, "Chuan, are we really setting out now?"

Once she entered, the first thing she noticed was the freezing temperature. She rubbed her arms absentmindedly. Looking up, she could see that the air conditioning had been set to the lowest temperature. No wonder the air was so frigid.

Li Chuanmo was standing in front of the large window in his office, looking at the landscape. He had removed his suit jacket and tie, and was now sporting a more casual look.

When he did not answer, she asked, "Chuan, what's wrong? And why is your office so cold?"

He finally turned to face her. "I'm just trying to blow off some steam."

"Steam? What happened?"

Thinking for a moment, she asked. "Is it because of Gao Tinghua?"

It was like the floodgates opened. "Who else? I had to keep holding myself back, else I would have pummeled him. And he had the cheek to call you what? Yueran? Who does he think he is?" Li Chuanmo said, fuming. Pei Yueran could see imaginary steam rising out of his ears.

Pei Yueran: "...."

She felt amused. He was behaving less like the chairman of a huge company and more like a child who had his favorite candy stolen.

"Is that the reason why you look so wronged? You know what he's like already. Just ignore him. Don't let him get under your skin. This project is very important after all."

"That's not the only reason." Li Chuanmo's voice took on a pitiful lilt. "Because of him, I was also stopped from eating your tofu earlier today. That was the really annoying part."

Pei Yueran spluttered. "Chuan!" She exclaimed after finding her voice. Where did he even learn words like this from? Her cheeks colored a lovely shade of red. "How could you even say that?"

"What? Haven't you heard this phrase before? It is a popular internet slang that means to—"

Pei Yueran quickly cut him off, raising her hand, "Stop, I know what it means, alright?

Was this still the Li Chuanmo she knew? Where the the cold and quiet man she fell in love with?

In his place was this Li Chuanmo, a sly fox whose mouth had no filters. He could say anything and everything.

Still, she loved every facet of his personality: The cold, the serious, the cute and -weirdly- even the tease—they were all one person, and this person was hers.

"Ran." Li Chuanmo called out in a voice that gave Pei Yueran goosebumps.

She quickly said without thinking, "Sorry okay? Just let it go. Once we have finalized the project, we would leave it to the second team. You won't have to see him again." Pei Yueran was really coaxing him like a child.

But Li Chuanmo decided to have selective hearing.

"What are you apologizing for? Are you sorry on behalf of that annoying jerk? or are you apologizing for the fact that we were interrupted? If it's the latter, then we could actually continue. I didn't eat enough just now. You can also eat mine if you want. What do you say?" He asked, moving closer.

Pei Yueran shook her head, then nodded, then shook her head in confusion. She could not wrap her mind around what he had just said.

When he was a step away, she suddenly spun on her heels and headed for the door. They had to leave quickly before he decided to act on his insane ideas. "For-forget I said anything. Let's just go quickly, else we would be late."

Li Chuanmo smiled as he watched her run away. Ah, teasing her was such a joy. Just watching her blush like a shy bride was very satisfying. Even the irritation he felt due to Gao Tinghua's visit had faded a lot.

Going to see her mother was at the top of his priority list right now. He wanted them to get the ball rolling and get married as soon as possible. He could not wait to become hers in every sense of the word.

"Ran, wait for me!" He said as she strode after her. "We still need to go to Paradigm before heading to the event."

Talk about company matters, Pei Yueran could handle. She slowed down and continued talking about the project they were working on with that company, her embarrassment forgotten for the moment.

*****

"Why are we here?" Pei Yueran asked when she noticed they were parked in front of a high rise building.

"We need to get dressed for the event tonight remember?"

"Oh right." Pei Yueran wailed inwardly. She hoped it would be over quickly. She loved shopping in general, but beauty and skin care routines did not rank highly on her scale of preference.

She alighted from the car and looked at the building properly. It said "K&Q Inc." in big, golden letters. It was a beauty house that catered to male and female clients, and their clientele consisted exclusively of the top 0.1% in City M and the surrounding cities.

Li Chuanmo told Pei Yueran that they would only spend a few minutes there, but in reality, they spent over two hours. Pei Yueran was given a full body massage, complete with aromatic oils and creams. Then her makeup and nails were done.

The stylist decided to leave her hair be, since the color and style suited her look. Nevertheless, finding the "perfect" dress was the main problem.

Li Chuanmo, whose preparations were so few that it was almost nonexistent, was back in record time and sat down to help her choose an outfit.

After going back and forth several times, they finally agreed on a midnight blue strapless gown. It had tiny gems that glittered in the light and complimented Li Chuanmo's suit, which had a similar hue.

Standing together, both of them looked posed to attend an international award ceremony and not a small retirement party. They looked stunning.

They looked so good standing together that the manager broke the rules and pleaded with them to take a picture together, which would be used in a promotional event K&Q Inc. were organizing for couples.

Li Chuanmo didn't even respond, he just prepared to walk away. But Pei Yueran forcefully held him back.

"Let's take a picture, not for their event, but for my collection at least. Pretty please?" K&W Inc. also offered photoshoot services, on the house.

Li Chuanmo opened his mouth. "With just words?"

Pei Yueran immediately straightened and left him alone. "No need."

It was Li Chuanmo's turn to relent. "Alright, let's take some pictures."

"No form of payment?" She asked doubtfully.

"Yes." Li Chuanmo "painfully" agreed, but he had his own plan.

He was going to collect payment, but not now. He would keep record of all these debts in his heart, and collect them with interest.

They posed for the pictures, had them taken, and were soon on their way.