Mild sunlight shone into the office, which was decorated with simplicity in mind, and gave it a warmer and cozier feeling.
Within the silent office, one was sitting laidback rather calmly while another was standing upright quite excitedly.
“What do you think?”
Ji Ziming leaned on his chair and looked at Pei Ge lightly.
“Mhm…” she hummed. The only reason she had returned to work was the high salary, so how could she not be tempted by Ji Ziming’s offer to raise her salary?
Seeing her sparkling eyes, he was reminded of a greedy kitten that had been presented with an endless amount of fish. Her eyes were flickering with light and the words ‘I want it! I want it!’ were written all over her face.
“Heh…” Ji Ziming involuntarily chuckled. The more he watched her, the more amused he became until the anger he felt toward her mostly dissipated.
Upon hearing his chuckle, Pei Ge, who was struggling internally, raised her head to look at him questioningly. She really could not fathom what he was laughing about.
“I’ll raise your salary by ten percent. How is that?” He sat straight up, interlaced his fingers, leaned his forearms on the table, and looked at her with the ghost of a smile.
“Ten percent?!” she involuntarily exclaimed with wide eyes.
“Yes. If not, including that ten-percent increase, we can just round it up to 20,000 yuan. What do you think?” He continued to tempt her when he saw her big, round eyes.
“Twen – Twenty thousand?!” She was stunned silly and stammered this out.
One should note that she had only started working at this company for a few months and had just become a regular employee recently. For her salary to actually have the possibility of reaching 20,000 yuan this quickly… Oh, my god!
“Alright! I’ll agree to that!” She nodded her head vigorously. A saying went: ‘Birds die in pursuit of food and human beings die in pursuit of wealth.’ She would be a fool not to agree to such a good offer!
“That’s great. I hope you can quickly settle this issue. If not…” He hedged, suddenly having the urge to tease the woman upon seeing her twinkling eyes.
“Huh? ‘If not’ what?” She gulped and stared wide-eyed at him.
“Pay… deduction…” he enunciated these words.
“Huh?! Pay deduction?!” She immediately regretted her decision. “You didn’t mention earlier that I’ll get a pay deduction if I don’t succeed! I quit! I quit!”
Seeing her nervous look, the corners of his mouth curled up. He seemed to have found this woman’s weakness….
“You have already agreed to it, so there is no leeway for rescission. You can leave now.” He casually leaned back on his swivel chair as he calmly said this.
Pei Ge gritted her teeth at his casual look.
After giving him an indignant glare, she suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at him and just turned around to leave.
However, just as she touched the door’s handle and moved to pull it open, she heard him speak again, “Who were you with this lunch break?”
Huh?
She turned her head over in confusion. Her expression seemed to say, “What has that got to do with you?” Of course, she did not dare say this out loud.
“Er… Why would you ask me that?” she asked, perplexed.
“No particular reason.” He raised his chin slightly and feigned nonchalance.
Blinking her eyes, she nodded her head and thought to herself, Since you are not saying your reason, then I shall pretend not to know the answer as well.
“Oh. If there’s nothing else, then I will take my—” Before the last two words ‘leave now’ left her mouth, Ji Ziming spoke again, “Pay… deduction.”
His cool and pleasant voice sounded like the devil’s in Pei Ge’s ears.
Pursing her lips indignantly, she said in a stifled manner, “With Pan Xinlei from the Advertising Department.”
Pan Xinlei? It seems to be a woman’s name. It’s not that pretty boy, huh.
“Mhm.” His mood instantly brightened, although he still had his usual poker face on. Lightly acknowledging her words, he signaled her to leave with his hand as though he could not wait to be rid of her.
The corners of her mouth twitched. She proceeded to turn around once more, resolutely pushed down the handle, and opened the door to leave.
Kachak! The moment the wooden door was opened, she exasperatedly rolled her eyes.
What a lunatic! Hmph!
Bang! Only he remained in the office once she exited through the wooden door.
Immediately, his poker face turned gentle and his lips turned up.
I was overthinking it, huh….
If anyone were to enter the office at this moment, they would be stunned silly by Ji Ziming. This was because this Mr. CEO, who usually had a cold look on his face, was smiling sillily right now.
His smile was so silly that it exuded an unbelievable foolishness!
“That’s not right! What has it got to do with me who she ate lunch with?” Ji Ziming soon regained his sense and frowned, the smile on his face immediately vanishing.
Even then, the cold contours of his face were currently filled with gentleness.
“Still… that woman seems so concerned with money…” Ji Ziming thought of the way she had reacted at the mention of a pay raise and a pay deduction just then and coldly harrumphed. “Hmph! How vulgar.”
…
“Achoo!” Pei Ge sneezed loudly the moment she sat down at her workstation.
Could someone be thinking of me? She pulled out some tissue to rub her nose as she casually thought of this.
“Work, work…” She threw the tissue into the bin and continued tapping on her keyboard.
…
– A certain high-class private clubhouse in town –
“Auntie, wuu wuu!” Qin Qitong pushed open the intricately carved, huge golden doors of her auntie’s private VIP room and entered through them.
A resplendent and magnificent view filled her vision. The room was gold-themed, so golden ornaments could be seen everywhere inside.
Rather than looking gaudy, it looked elegant and grand.
“Oh, no, my precious little child! Why are you crying like that? Who bullied our Tongtong?” Mother Ji, who had sent just away a few madams, only sat down on the sofa when her niece came in.
Qin Qitong sniveled and looked at Mother Ji. She, who had already finished crying and was just shedding crocodile tears when she entered, felt her nose itch again upon seeing her auntie. Hence, she found herself wailing once more.
“It’s Brother Ji who bullied me! He is such a big bully!”
“Huh? Mingming bullied you?” Mother Ji looked at her with puzzlement. She understood her son well, so how was it possible for him to bully Qin Qitong?
“It’s that big bully who bullied me! He clearly promised to let me work with Sister Pei Ge, yet he actually separated us! He’s bad! He’s bullying me!” Qin Qitong complained angrily to Mother Ji with an oh-so-wronged expression.
“Pei Ge?”
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