ATLAS TRANSLATES

Ji Feng’s question stunned Xue Rui.

“…Ah?”

Ji Feng was still in shock from having someone sit on his leg: “I’m asking you, is she deliberately seducing me?”

Without waiting for Xue Rui to answer, he continued asking in rapid succession, each question more urgent than the last: “Are you saying she likes me? She actually dares to like me?!”

Xue Rui was stunned again and again, opening and closing his mouth, not knowing whether to tell Ji Feng that Sister Mi Yu probably didn’t have that kind of intention and was likely overthinking things.

But seeing Ji Feng so emotionally worked up was a rare occurrence, so he didn’t dare add his own opinion. One wrong step could redirect all that turmoil towards himself.

“Why…why do you think that?” Xue Rui stammered out after carefully considering his words.

“She sat right on me without hesitation, didn’t you see?” Ji Feng said, bristling.

“She slipped on the floor…it wasn’t on purpose, right?” Xue Rui softly spoke up in Mi Yu’s defense.

“Not on purpose? Hmph.”

It wasn’t just a one time thing. She kept deliberately giving him chocolate for no reason, kept smiling that captivating smile at him, and then went so far as to throw herself into his arms, blushing as she looked at him. How could this not be intentional seduction and provocation?

From the chocolate to the bewitching smiles to literally throwing herself at him, she was clearly testing the waters, enticing him little by little, disturbing him! So this was how experienced, married women operated?

Fine, very well.

Ji Feng slapped his thighs repeatedly, trying to rid himself of the feeling she had left there.

He was irritated by the thought that someone had given her the impression she could seduce him. Even if she looked completely different now – healthier skin, radiant vigor, light in her eyes – especially when she smiled…

So what? She didn’t meet a single one of his standards.

He had set his goal long ago. His partner would have to be as perfect and outstanding as he was.

Ji Feng rubbed his forehead in frustration. He decided that the next time he saw Xu Miyu, he would have to clarify matters and make her stop wasting her time and getting ideas about him.

The next day, when Xu Miyu was busy working in the lobby, Ji Feng strode through the grand lobby with Xue Rui towards the exit.

When they reached the doors, Ji Feng suddenly halted. He turned sideways towards Xu Miyu and called out:

“Xu Miyu, come out for a moment.”

After speaking, he walked out of the hotel.

Xu Miyu quickly handed off her current task to the receptionist and rushed outside.

Outside the hotel, she saw Ji Feng’s Rolls Royce parked not far away in a parking spot. Xue Rui and the driver were standing outside the car. Seeing her arrive, Xue Rui waved to her, “Sister Mi Yu, over here!”

Xu Miyu jogged over. Xue Rui opened the rear passenger door and motioned for her to get in, “The boss is inside waiting for you. He said he has something to discuss.”

Feeling confused, Xu Miyu got into the car. Xue Rui slammed the door shut, trapping himself and the driver outside.

Xu Miyu slowly turned her head to look at Ji Feng sitting beside her and tentatively called out a soft greeting, before carefully asking again, “Boss Ji, did you need me for something?”

Ji Feng slightly turned his head to look at her, expressionless, eyes half-lowered disdainfully towards Xu Miyu.

From his attitude and gaze, she inexplicably sensed a kind of warning coldness.

Her heart couldn’t help but grow somewhat apprehensive.

After looking Xu Miyu up and down, Ji Feng finally spoke. His voice was the usual coldness, tinged with a hint of mockery as always.

“Xu Miyu, whether it’s the chocolate, or smiling captivatingly at others, or throwing yourself into people’s arms, I hope you do less of these meaningless things in the future. I also hope you spend less effort on these useless thoughts.”

“……?” Xu Miyu was stunned speechless.

She vaguely felt a strange sense of grievance welling up in her heart. She had kindly given him chocolate because she was worried he would get low blood sugar; she had never deliberately tried to charm anyone with her smiles – her smiles had always come from the bottom of her heart; she had fallen into his lap purely by accident when she slipped on something on the ground. But now he was looking at her as if she was a woman with ulterior motives, even taking the trouble to specially call her out the next day to admonish her with a unhappy expression not to deliberately waste all kinds of random efforts on him.

Xu Miyu now had a ball of indescribable grievance resting on top of her indignance. She raised her chin a little, and told Ji Feng: “Boss Ji, yesterday I really slipped because of oil on the ground, it definitely wasn’t intentional that I fell onto your legs. I’m very sorry to have unintentionally violated your pure legs. Rest assured, in the future things like accidentally crashing into you, as well as the chocolate and smiles you detest, definitely won’t happen again.”

After speaking she looked straight at Ji Feng. To herself she thought: Stand strong, don’t lose spirit. If you lose fighting spirit he really will look down on you as intentionally throwing yourself at him.

Ji Feng saw that Xu Miyu had an almost resigned expression on her face as she spoke to him.

Listening to her words, he clearly sensed she had been mocking him just now, and was vaguely exuding an air of stubborn competitiveness.

He wanted to argue with her – what competitiveness did she have to pit against him? But seeing the do-or-die look on her face, he felt that if he kept pressing her, judging from her stance, she would probably blurt out some unanswerable retort.

In the end he didn’t continue sparring with her. He only frowned in response.

“Then remember what you just said and act accordingly.”

Xu Miyu stopped looking at Ji Feng. She simply said “Goodbye Boss Ji” before pushing open the door and exiting the car.

Xue Rui watched Xu Miyu’s retreating figure back towards the hotel. She seemed to be in a bit of huff.

He got into the passenger seat and asked Ji Feng, “What’s wrong, boss?”

Ji Feng irritably pointed out the window, “Has she gotten bolder recently? In the past even when slapped she didn’t know how to resist. Now her feathers are all fluffed up and she’s the one taking the aggressive stance first!”

He lightly kicked the car door, venting all his dissatisfaction into the action, then told the driver upfront, “Drive.”

Ji Feng felt a shred of irritation ever since being retorted by Xu Miyu.

When had anyone ever dared to talk back to him like that?

He thought he needed to find some excuse to vent out this irritation. And that excuse would naturally be when Xu Miyu tried acting charming to get close to him again – he would slap her in the face when that time came: Still say you didn’t have any intentions?

Doing that would probably blow away the irritation in his heart.

Strangely, just having this scenario in mind, he already vaguely felt his anger dissipate, as if avenged.

Xue Rui watched as Ji Feng alternated between gritting his teeth and looking triumphant all by himself. He had never seen Ji Feng so…high strung before. He didn’t even dare breathe loudly.

Whereas Ji Feng continued to be immersed in his own roiling thoughts, waiting to find the opportunity to thoroughly vent his frustrations.

Xue Rui discovered that Ji Feng’s behavior had been a bit different than usual recently.

In the past Ji Feng avoided leaving his room unless necessary. Anything that could be delegated to Xue Rui was left for Xue Rui to handle in his place. Even when group meetings were held for the company, if he was too lazy to return to headquarters, he would just video conference with the management team from his hotel room.

But recently he had become more willing to handle things personally, attending meetings in person after they concluded returning to his hotel room. Things that could have been delegated to his assistant in the past were now all personally handled by him outside before he returned to his hotel. Occasionally when discussing business with others, talks that could have occurred over the phone were now changed to face-to-face at his request, after which he returned to his hotel.

These changes made Xue Rui gradually realize he had to accompany Ji Feng walking through the grand hotel lobby several times everyday.

And every time they walked through, Ji Feng would sweep through with the air of an emperor, head held high and strides broad, with everyone in his path bowing respectfully to greet him. But when exiting the hotel or entering an elevator, he would suddenly ask: “Did Xu Miyu just now bow and greet me?”

Caught unprepared the first time this was asked, Xue Rui was stunned speechless: “I wasn’t paying attention…”

Ji Feng just glanced coldly at him.

Afterwards Xue Rui became more tactful, keeping an eye on Xu Miyu’s conduct.

When Ji Feng asked again, “Did Xu Miyu just now bow and greet me?”

Xue Rui immediately truthfully answered: “She bowed her greeting.”

“Was her voice loud?”

“…Ah? Oh, not loud or soft I guess.”

Xue Rui saw Ji Feng’s expression seem simultaneously satisfied yet unsatisfied after answering. He couldn’t help but ask: “Boss, is there some issue with whether her voice was loud or soft?”

Ji Feng impatiently explained, “Regardless of loud or soft, she’s deliberately trying to attract my attention towards her.” After a brief pause, he further inquired of Xue Rui, “Did you hear clearly, she spoke neither loud nor soft?”

Xue Rui stared blankly, mouth agape as he slowly nodded.

He was flabbergasted by his boss’ actions recently…what exactly was he concerned about everyday…

Later Xue Rui discovered Ji Feng’s other atypical behavior change was that after walking through the grand lobby multiple times everyday, he had basically relocated himself semi-permanently to the lobby café to work there instead.

Previously when he had spare time he would go relax on the 2nd floor veranda to bask in the sun and enjoy the breeze. Now when free he would drink coffee and work in the lobby café.

They always sat in a hidden corner booth. From their seats looking outward they had full view of all the lobby traffic while from the outside looking in their corner was obscured.

Xue Rui accompanied Ji Feng working there. Originally he was very attentively focused solely on his tasks, but Ji Feng was actually unsatisfied by this. He demanded of Xue Rui: “As an assistant you need to learn to keep alert and observe your full surroundings, pay more attention to what’s happening in the lobby, then report back to me.”

And so under this directive Xue Rui could only neglect his duties from time to time and observe the lobby excitement as it happened, providing live commentary to Ji Feng.

He also included live updates on Xu Miyu’s status.

“Just now there was a child in the lobby who kept crying no matter who tried to console him. Sister Mi Yu walked over, took out a chocolate from her pocket and handed it to the kid, while smiling radiantly to play with him. The kid immediately stopped crying. He was even laughing hard enough that snot bubbles were spraying out of his nose. That dirty runt look was pretty amusing!”

While recounting this, Xue Rui excitedly turned to ask Ji Feng: “Boss, do you think the pockets on Sister Mi Yu’s clothes are connected to some hidden pouch like Hello Kitty’s coin purse? How else could she conveniently pull out chocolate bars whenever? Earlier I saw a concierge attendant who was dizzy and she also straightaway took out a chocolate bar for him to hurriedly eat.”

Only after he finished did Xue Rui notice Ji Feng’s face had turned ugly.

Ji Feng glanced over at the lobby towards the brightly laughing child, mouth opened wide with little chocolate-colored teeth fully displayed.

He frowned.

So her chocolates were given out casually to anyone?

Xue Rui didn’t notice his shift in mood and continued reminiscing about Xu Miyu’s smile from earlier.

“Boss, why don’t we set up a Best Smile award for the service staff!” Xue Rui suggested turning towards Ji Feng. “Or a Best Healing award, either could work!”

He rambled on until suddenly noticing Ji Feng’s complexion had turned even worse than before.

Ji Feng watched Xu Miyu in the distance for a while.

She truly did radiate dazzling smiles towards anyone. If people went to ask her things, she would smile answering them. When people approached her to make trouble and find fault, she could also resolve conflicts with a smile. Anyone with worries on their face coming near her would be comforted when she bloomed her smile at them – indeed able to make the other person’s mood brighten somewhat.

Ji Feng tightened his grip around the pen in his hand.

She really did show stunning smiles not only to him alone.

He retracted his gaze, lowering his head to continue handling affairs.

Not long after, Xue Rui shrieked again: “Boss, something’s happening in the lobby! There’s a handsome youth who finished checking out but before leaving suddenly went to ask Sister Mi Yu for her WeChat and personal number! Wow, Sister Mi Yu is blushing!”

Ji Feng’s head jerked up to look towards the lobby.

Xu Miyu’s face was indeed flushed red. But she was politely declining that guest’s requests.

Ji Feng narrowed his eyes.

So blushing doesn’t represent anything?

So in the end, he was thinking too much and misunderstanding everything himself, right?

So she didn’t like him after all, right?

“No eye for aesthetics!”

She really didn’t treat him any different from how she treated others.

Utterly outrageous.

Things in this world were truly bizarre.

After Ji Feng was basically certain Xu Miyu held no special feelings towards him, conversely his heart felt even more uncomfortable.

But he also didn’t understand what this discomfort was exactly. It was like a kind of unwillingness, and also a kind of imbalance.

He thought she liked him, yet she actually didn’t.

He assumed she treated him differently from others, yet that wasn’t the case either.

But if she truly liked him and did act differently towards him compared to others, he still felt she shouldn’t have any delusional ideas about him.

So he couldn’t figure out himself what outcome he actually hoped for.

But he wanted to quickly get to the bottom of this rationale. And so he still often went to work in the lobby café.

That afternoon shortly after he brought Xue Rui to their usual hidden corner seats, he saw two people enter the lobby – a man and woman, both in their mid-30s, dressed like average white-collar workers.

They made a beeline towards Xu Miyu upon entering the grand lobby.

Unable to hear what was said, Xu Miyu then gestured towards the café area before leading the couple over.

Ji Feng immediately snapped open a newspaper to shield himself behind in pretense of reading it.

Glancing at Xue Rui next to him blankly fixated, Ji Feng ruthlessly jabbed Xue Rui with his elbow and shot him a fierce look.

Xue Rui froze for a second before seeming to understand something. He promptly squeezed next to Ji Feng, shoving himself into the spread out newspaper with him, cozying up together to “read” it.

Ji Feng looked at Xue Rui speechlessly yet frigidly.

Xue Rui shrunk back his neck under that glare and retreated back out. He then also separately snapped open a newspaper to hide behind.

From behind their papers they sensed Xu Miyu sit down with the couple at a table not far in front of them.

Sneakily peeking out from the edge of the papers, they discovered Xu Miyu had her back facing their direction. Ji Feng thus lowered down his upright paper slightly, revealing his eyes to obscure only half his face.

Xue Rui observed him before similarly following suit.

They heard Xu Miyu converse with the two people she addressed as “big sister” and “brother-in-law”.

The day before, Xu Miyu’s older sister Xu Miyu had called Xu Miyu, wanting her to be sure to visit home this weekend because she had something to discuss with her.

But no matter how many times she called, it was always busy tone. Big Sis then tried calling Xu Miyu from her husband’s number, but still only busy signals.

Big Sis and her husband then angrily discovered that Xu Miyu had blocked them both.

Xu Miyu went out and got a new number while fuming. Calling Xu Miyu’s phone again with this new number, it finally wasn’t blocked anymore.

As soon as the call connected, Big Sis interrogated Xu Miyu: “Are you crazy? Why did you block me and your brother-in-law?”

Xu Miyu immediately moved to hang up.

Sensing something off, Big Sis’ husband hurriedly calmed Big Sis’ temper and tried to get to the main issue.

Big Sis seized the chance before Xu Miyu hung up. “Little Sis, you definitely need to come to my place this weekend, I have things to discuss with you.”

Xu Miyu coolly asked what this was about. Xu Miyu hemmed and hawed that it was still related to the braised meat business. She also said that this time, Lu Zhen Zhen has given them a final warning – if the supply of braised meat isn’t restored, she and her husband would both be fired from the company.

Xu Miyu immediately told Xu Miyu: “There’s nothing to discuss about this matter. If losing this job renders you unemployed, then go find another one.”

After speaking, she decisively ended the call and directly blocked this number as well into her blacklist.

Xu Miyu and some outsider had jointly deceived her. Even when exposed, they not only showed no remorse but perversely acted as if there was still room for discussion.

In her heart, Xu Miyu gave a cold mocking laugh. Relatives as stupidly preposterous and heartless as this – better off without them.

After hanging up the phone, she once again felt that rejecting others really wasn’t that difficult. Daring to reject unreasonable demands made her feel an actual sense of growth and empowerment.

This feeling made her feel extremely motivated.

She just didn’t expect that the very next day, Big Sis and Brother-in-Law would personally show up at her hotel.

Xu Miyu decided she might as well directly clarify matters once and for all with them face-to-face. She brought them both to the café next to the grand lobby.

It was still early so there was only one other table in the café occupied, with two men deeply engrossed in reading their newspapers.

Xu Miyu let Xu Miyu and her husband pick a table they wanted while she sat across from them.

After taking their seats, Brother-in-Law spoke up: “Since you work here, we can directly bill the coffee to you right? Server!” He called towards a server as he spoke.

Xu Miyu promptly informed him: “This café has nothing to do with me. If you want coffee, you’ll need to scan and pay for it yourself.”

The Brother-in-Law’s expression turned ugly: “That stingy?” He turned towards the server who had rushed over, “Get us some hot water then. Oh that’s right, other hotels provide small free snacks and tidbits and stuff right? Do you guys have any here too? Give us some of those if you do.”

The server professionally maintained excellence etiquette while responding: “My apologies sir, we do not offer free snacks here. Also, if you do not plan to order anything else, there would be a base charge even for hot water here which I should make you aware of in advance. Please let me know if you would still like any.”

The Brother-in-Law’s face changed: “Even hot water needs to be paid for? You guys trying to rob people? Think you’re hot stuff just ’cause you’re some café in a 5-star hotel?”

Xu Miyu quietly watched her Brother-in-Law make a scene and disgrace himself. Seeing the server’s awkward predicament, she told her: “It’s fine, no need to bring water over for now. You can go back to your work first.” The server quickly walked away in relief.

Xu Miyu looked back to her Brother-in-Law: “That behavior was unnecessary. You automatically assumed that drinking free water should be a given when it still required resources like the cups, hot water, and labor put in by other people – all real costs incurred?

After the reproach, her tone took a turn as she continued: “Hurry and get to the main issue. I still have work to do and can’t afford to waste too much time.”

And so Xu Miyu cut to the chase: “It’s like this. Little Sis, ever since you refused to keep making braised meat at my place, Lu Zhen Zhen and Nie Yu Cheng have been unable to continue supplying it to the supervisor’s wife over in their company. That madame has been very unhappy with the supply cut so recently Supervisor Nie hasn’t been assigning great jobs. With this, Lu Zhen Zhen isn’t happy either. She’s pushing all responsibility onto me and your brother-in-law, making Supervisor Nie work us ragged with overtime and docking our bonuses. She even declared that if the meat supply isn’t restored, me and your brother-in-law are getting laid off by next week. But what does any of this have to do with us? The crux lies between you, Nie Yu Cheng and Lu Zhen Zhen! Me and your brother-in-law are innocent victims taking collateral fire here!”

Xu Miyu felt that she should change her name to Xiao Wu Yu (No Words) now.

“No. This matter isn’t between Nie Yu Cheng, Lu Zhen Zhen and me either. This is the result of you guys looking out for your own individual self-interests. If you all could join forces to deceive me for profits back then, you should have realized there would be consequences if the deception came to light one day.”

She refuted them tit for tat, no longer enduring false accusations like she did in the past.

Xu Miyu was briefly stunned, nearly losing her temper before forcing herself to endure. After all, she still had a favor to ask.

“Forget it, forget it. Assigning fault for that old mess is meaningless now so let bygones be bygones. But there’s still an urgent issue at hand – Lu Zhen Zhen is giving me and your brother-in-law hell, making work super tough at the company, seems we won’t last there much longer.”

Xu Miyu paused after saying this.

Xu Miyu raised her eyebrows: “So?”