Hello, Wife!

Chapter 22: Changing The Form Of Address

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By the time Su Le had hung up the phone, it was already eleven in the night. She glanced at the call log. The duration of the call lasted for 00:48:52. Her mood was indescribably brightened. Someone had called her at this time of the day just to chat and kill time with her, so it was unsurprising that there would be an improvement to her mood.

Never would Su Le think of Wei Chu as the type of man to have a habit of long calls as they chatted about the weather and some novels. An originally cold and detached influential figure, who was difficult to get close to, turned out surprisingly to be just an ordinary person. He would contemplate on which restaurants has good food, discuss which weather was annoying, and even grumble about how irritating the jams on the road were.

Such a man with both status and brains, he was a perfect model as the male lead in a novel with the title of ‘Great God’, a title that was currently trendy and suits him well. But it’s that apart from having these attributes, Wei Chu behaves somewhat like an ordinary person.

Flipping her phone close, Su Le pulled up her duvet and fell into a dreamless sleep.
—————-

In the next afternoon after Su Le had just finished her work, Jiang Ting called her to the office. Su Le took a file and was prepared to go to JinChu.

She glanced at the time. It was 2:30 in the afternoon and it was the perfect time to start setting off to JinChu.

Arriving at the entrance of JinChu’s building, Jiang Ting lifted her head to look at JinChu’s sparkling logo. Jiang Ting revealed a rueful expression. She had been working in BaiSheng for several years, and the first time she had seen Wei Chu was in the earlier years at Wei Chu’s grandfather’s birthday banquet. At that time, Wei Chu was only a 2nd year university student. Yet after graduation, he started his own company and it had grown to such a large one in just a few years time.It was no wonder that whenever the old man from the Wei Family spoke about Wei Chu, his face was always filled with pride.

Turning around, she took a look at Su Le who was walking beside her. Ever since the interview, Jiang Ting had particularly paid attention to Su Le and it seems her foresight was correct. This young lady was capable and treats others appropriately.

When they entered JinChu’s building, before they had even reached the reception desk, a courteous staff member came up to them and led them both to the elevator.

Quietly, Su Le stood next to Jiang Ting. She was, afterall, an assistant so she understood what she should and should not do. These were the ground rules that a new employee should know.

Once the elevator doors opened, Jiang Ting was amazed because Wei Chu’s assistant, Chen Xu, was waiting for them outside the elevator. Jiang Ting never imagined that Chen Xu would personally come to receive them for such a small collaboration with BaiSheng.

“Manager Jiang, Su Le,” Chen Xu greeted when he saw them both. His face wore a smile as he said, “Please, come through. I have guessed that you would be coming around this time. The CEO is currently in a board meeting, but it should be ending soon, so would you please follow me.”

“It’s us that came early,” Jiang Ting smiled. Chen Xu looked at his watch after turning around and he realised that there were still ten minutes before the arranged meeting time. At this point, Jiang Ting realized that Chen Xu, who was Wei Chu’s trusted assistant, knew Su Le since he called Su Le directly by name.

“What drink would Manager Jiang like? Tea, coffee, or fruit juice?” Chen Xu asked while opening the windows after he had led them into the VIP lounge.

“A cup of coffee, thanks.” Jiang Ting smiled. She was surprised that Chen Xu did not ask Su Le.

Very soon, Chen Xu came carrying a cup of coffee and a cup of green tea before moving to sit on the sofa opposite from the two, “Yesterday, Su Le and the CEO had discussed most of the contract’s content and he had no opposition to it. However, because the entire process is very important, we hope that your company would send someone over to participate in the planning with our planning department. It would be easier for a change to be done if there were anything wrong.”

“What Assistant Chen means is that our company should send a representative to your company?” Jiang Ting’s hand that was holding the cup of coffee turned stiff. After confirming that Chen Xu was not joking, Jiang Ting hesitated before speaking, “Wouldn’t that be too…”

After all, the planning department was considered one of the important departments and since JinChu didn’t mind including someone from BaiSheng, it wouldn’t do Bai Sheng any harm. But this could cause others to think that BaiSheng has no trust in JinChu’s capability, so it was still inappropriate in any case.

“Please do not worry, Manger Jiang. Our companies are near each other and your company’s CEO has been an elder to ours so there won’t be any misunderstandings,” Chen Xu then went on, “And since Su Le is familiar with the content of the collaboration, why don’t Su Le be the representative?”

Right from the beginning till the end, Su Le remained silent as she immersed herself in drinking her tea, but when she heard what Chen Xu proposed, she took a quick glance at Jiang Ting’s expression. Seeing that she was neither unhappy nor annoyed, Su Le finally said something, “Since this was arranged by the company, I believe it would be same no matter who the representative is.”

“It would be good for Su Le to be the one responsible for this,” Jiang Ting suddenly smiled, “Although Su Le is still new in the company, she is very earnest at her work.” The first half was for Chen Xu to hear while the second half was for Su Le. In other words, Jiang Ting was praising Su Le in one hand while clearly indicating that Su Le was still a new employee. It was not clear if there were any other meaning behind those words but Su Le was not going to look deeper into it either. Instead, Su Le maintained her smile and drank her tea.

Chen Xu understood that Jiang Ting had always been flexible in both her words and actions while also being a tough woman. But even if problems were to arise, it wouldn’t matter because even if he did not trust Su Le, he should trust his boss’ sight.

The three of them calmly carried on about the contents related to the collaboration. Two minutes past three, the doors of the VIP lounge opened and Wei Chu walked in wearing a polite smile on his face, “Sorry for the wait, Executive Jiang.”

“Of course not,” Jiang Ting stood up and shook hands with Wei Chu, “CEO Wei is right on time, it’s us who came early.”

Wei Chu released Jiang Ting’s hand and smiled towards Su Le. Then he sat down and started discussing about the details of the collaboration straight away while Chen Xu sat on the side taking down notes seriously.

Su Le sat and quietly listened while remembering the key points, that were being discussed, in her mind. She inwardly admired those capable people in the business world as she observed Jiang Ting crossing words with Wei Chu. All their words were clear and logical while clearly separating their responsibilities.

Taking advantage of having a sip of tea, Wei Chu used that chance to look at Su Le who sat by the side. Seeing the earnestness and admiration on her face, Wei Chu’s lips rose into a smile that was not distinct but he quickly lowered his head to carry on dividing the work into their categories.

During the meeting, there were others who came to seek Wei Chu but he sent them all away. Su Le listened as Wei Chu came up with pretty much the entire plan within the short amount of time. She could now understand why some of their schoolmates refer him as ‘Great God’. After all, those that were capable had a particular charm around them. Others would surely find them incredible and admirable compared to those 2nd or 3rd generation rich kids who just relies on their parent’s protection.

When the plan was roughly completed, Jiang Ting smiled, “Since it’s rare for us to collaborate, may I have the honour to treat us all to a meal?”

Wei Chu closed the planning file in his hand and took a quick peep towards Su Le before saying, “How can I let Executive Jiang pay? Since it’s Executive Jiang who spared some time to come to JinChu, how about letting me pay for the meal.”

Jiang Ting praised Wei Chu’s way of handling things in her mind and insisted again that she should pay. But in the end, it was Wei Chu who led the group to a restaurant for dinner.

Jiang Ting, as the only one who was past her middle age, watched the interaction between the two young people, Su Le and Wei Chu, as well as watch Chen Xu who had an unchanging expression and realised that Wei Chu had some other motive for treating them to a meal. She smiled as she peeled the prawns. Su Le had a good character as well as a good appearance so it was not surprising that this young and capable CEO Wei had other plan in mind. But looking at the situation, it seemed like even though the male had made his intentions quite clear, the female did not seem to have even dreamt about it.

“Su Le, you and Wei Chu were both schoolmates so did you two already knew each other from early on?” She smiled as she watched Wei Chu move a dish in front of Su Le. Jiang Ting laughed, “Seeing CEO Wei like this, it seems your relation with Su Le is not bad.”

Wei Chu smiled towards Jiang Ting but he did not reply.

Su Le lowered her chopsticks before answering, “Senior Wei is two years above me and is also very famous in the university. But even so, I have never seen him before so how can we have known each other?”

The smile on Wei Chu’s face stiffened. The bit of fish that was between his chopsticks dropped into his bowl. Fortunately, it was not obvious so it did not arouse Su Le’s attention, but Chen Xu, distractedly, glanced at him.

The smile on Jiang Ting’s lips became more obvious, “True. There are many students in a university and if you’re in different departments, then it would be difficult to have met each other.”

“About that, Wei Chu and I are both from the same department,” after saying that, Su Le looked at Wei Chu with disbelief, “Senior, did you frequently skipped classes at university? How come I’ve never seen you around before?”

Wei Chu smiled as he swallowed some fish before he calmly replied, “It may be because my appearance did not stand out very much so you may have never noticed me before.”

Se Le’s eyes quickly swept across Wei Chu’s good looking face silently and she drank some tea, “Senior, even though being modest is a virtue, lying with your eyes open really lacks morals.”

Wei Chu’s smile became more gentle and he blinked slowly. There was also humour in his eyes, making his face look even more good-looking. That made Su Le’s hand go cold without a reason.
“Lacking in morals is better than lacking in calcium since lacking in calcium needs supplements while lacking in morals has no need for supplements.” Su Le consoled, “I heard the prices of calcium supplements have gone up.”

Wei Chu smiled slightly, “Then does Junior Su Le want me to gift you some?”

“No need,” Su Le resentfully smiled while silently crying in her heart. Recently, she kept forgetting to speak more formally when she was with Wei Chu and that was a sin.

Chen Xu ladled a scoop of simmered bone soup into his bowl. He was feeling rueful while drinking the soup. Simmered bone soup is rich in calcium.

—————-

Once the meal ended, Jiang Ting drove home and Chen Xu took the initiative to leave. As for Wei Chu, he kept the gentleman character to drive the lady home.

Su Le, who was seated in the passenger seat, listened to the music that was playing in the car. She felt satisfied after a full meal, “The best way to pass the days in this world is to listen to music, drink some tea, read some books, and being lazy. Basically, living a lifestyle similar to pigs.

Wei Chu nodded, “The price of pork has increased, and I heard that when raising pigs in a pig farm, people usually play music for them to listen to, so your dream life is not bad.”

Pain expressed on Su Le’s face as she gazed at Wei Chu, “Senior schoolmate, you don’t need to remind me that the life I want to live can’t even be compared to a pig.”

At this moment, Wei Chu stopped the car as he happened to see a red light and he turned to smile at Su Le, “Just call me Wei Chu.”

“Eh?”

“We are already in the working society now and ‘Senior schoolmate’ is not very nice to listen to.”

“Okay … Brother Wei.”

“You … Don’t you think that would sound like we’re in a cultivation world? Calling me ‘Wei Chu’ will be better.”

“Then …. Alright, Wei Chu.”

“En.”

Su Le looked at Wei Chu, who was wearing a small smile. His eyes were focused but they contained hesitation, struggle, and awkwardness. He was gradually feeling uneasy as Su Le stared back at him.

Finally, she decided to speak, “Wei Chu, the light is green now.”

Wei Chu remained speechless …