Before long, Yan Mo’s secretary, Xiao Zhang, entered.
Pei Shaoze merely glanced at her and asked, “What is it?”
Xiao Zhang held some pastries in her hand and looked at Pei Shaoze. “President Yan asked me to bring some food for Miss Su. He said Miss Su came in a hurry this morning and probably hasn’t eaten anything.”
With that, she placed the pastries on Su Banxia’s desk.
Su Banxia was momentarily stunned.
Xiao Zhang said a few more words and then left.
The atmosphere in the office suddenly grew a bit heavy. Su Banxia looked at the pastries on the table and, truth be told, her stomach was indeed feeling hungry.
Ignoring Pei Shaoze’s gaze on her, she started eating.
After a while, someone suddenly stood coldly beside her. Su Banxia looked up and saw Pei Shaoze staring at her with an icy expression.
She was slightly taken aback, confused. “President Pei…”
“Good?”
The anger in Pei Shaoze’s heart inexplicably flared up again. This woman really had some skill, managing to seduce Yan Xin into sending her food.
Su Banxia had no idea what he was thinking.
She simply packed away the leftovers and said honestly, “It tastes pretty good!”
It was indeed delicious, and besides, she really hadn’t eaten breakfast that morning—she was genuinely hungry!
Pei Shaoze’s face darkened as he let out a cold snort.
Su Banxia had no clue about his baseless anger, so she chose to ignore it.
When she went to throw away the trash, Pei Shaoze blocked the trash can. She looked up at him. “President Pei, could you move aside?”
Pei Shaoze furrowed his brows and didn’t budge.
Su Banxia pouted, leaned her body back, and tried to toss the trash into the bin by reaching around him.
But her technique was off, and as her chair tipped backward, she started to fall. Instinctively, she reached out to grab the desk.
On the desk sat the coffee Pei Shaoze had asked her to drink earlier. As she grabbed it, the coffee spilled everywhere.
At the same moment, Pei Shaoze reacted and grabbed her hand.
Their movements were incredibly fast, taking only a few seconds.
When Su Banxia steadied herself, both she and Pei Shaoze were splattered with coffee.
She was worse off—almost her entire skirt was covered.
After an awkward pause, Su Banxia looked at Pei Shaoze and thanked him. “President Pei, thank you!”
Pei Shaoze had a thing about cleanliness, and having coffee on him was truly unpleasant. He ignored her thanks, merely glancing at the coffee on her clothes. “Go clean up in the restroom.”
There was only one restroom in the office, and Pei Shaoze was also stained. Su Banxia felt a bit embarrassed.
Knowing his cleanliness obsession, she figured he wouldn’t be comfortable letting her use the restroom while he dealt with the coffee on himself.
Before she could say anything, Pei Shaoze had already taken off his jacket.
There was still some coffee on his trousers, but it was bearable.
Seeing Su Banxia staring at him without reacting, he frowned. “Don’t want to wash it?”
Su Banxia quickly shook her head and forced a smile. “President Pei, you go ahead. I’ll use the public restroom and clean up a bit.”
With that, she turned and ran off. For a moment, she suddenly felt that this man wasn’t as annoying as she’d imagined.
At least he was gentlemanly and polite.
Pei Shaoze was baffled by her reaction.
Once she was gone, he directly called Yan Xin to request a new set of clothes.
Su Banxia went to the public restroom and rinsed off some of the coffee, but the white shirt was stained and couldn’t be cleaned.
After struggling for a while with no success, she gave up.
She then stepped into a stall.
No sooner had she entered than she heard two women’s voices outside.
“Shanshan, did you just deliver food to President Yan’s little secretary?”
Su Banxia paused. President Yan? Yan Xin?
Before she could think further, another voice came from outside—a different woman. “Yeah!”
“Shanshan, is President Yan blind? How could he fall for a woman like that? So tacky and ugly!”
Zhang Shanshan: “Probably just wants a change of pace!”
“First seducing President Pei, now President Yan. Su Banxia really is a woman anyone can have!”
Zhang Shanshan: “Only rotten eggs attract attention. If she weren’t slutty enough, she couldn’t have seduced both men.”
Su Banxia: “…”
She seduced Yan Xin? Seduced Pei Shaoze?
She was a rotten egg?
Unable to hold back, Su Banxia left the stall and walked up behind the two women, tapping each on the shoulder.
It startled them.
When they turned around and saw the subject of their gossip, their faces flushed with embarrassment, but they managed forced smiles. “Secretary Su!”
Su Banxia looked at them, smiled without saying much, and walked between them to casually wash her hands.
Then she pulled out a paper towel and dried her hands.
She did all of this very slowly.
The two women had been caught red-handed, and the awkwardness was unavoidable. But Su Banxia’s silence made them increasingly anxious.
Zhang Shanshan forced another smile. “Secretary Su, we…”
“Oh, by the way, thanks for bringing those pastries from Yan Xin earlier. They were delicious. Please thank him for me.”
Su Banxia cut off Zhang Shanshan’s words.
Zhang Shanshan nodded, at a loss for words.
The girl beside her was just a low-level employee. It was easy to gossip behind someone’s back, but getting caught by the person in question was mortifying.
If Zhang Shanshan didn’t know what to say, she certainly didn’t either.
After washing her hands, Su Banxia said nothing more, just looked at Zhang Shanshan. “I’ll be going now.”
She did nothing, simply walked away as if nothing had happened, which only made Zhang Shanshan and the other girl more uneasy.
Leaving the restroom, Su Banxia suppressed her anger. When had her reputation become so terrible?
Was it because she’d been spending too much time with Pei Shaoze and Yan Xin?
Truly, where there are women, there’s gossip.
As she reached the door of Pei Shaoze’s office, she ran into Yan Xin. Still fuming, she kept her head down and didn’t notice him.
But Yan Xin spotted her and called out, “Banxia!”
Seeing the box in his hand, she asked, “Did President Pei ask for something else?”
Noticing the coffee stains on her clothes, Yan Xin immediately understood why Pei Shaoze had asked him to bring clothes in the middle of the day.
Handing her the clothes, Yan Xin said, “These are for Shaoze. Give them to him.”
He paused. “I have things to do. I’ll get going.”
Su Banxia took the clothes and looked at him. “President Yan, thanks for the breakfast.”
She wanted to add that if possible, he shouldn’t buy her things next time.
But then she thought, saying that would be strange—maybe he was just being a considerate boss.
So she swallowed the words. Yan Xin smiled and simply said, “You’re welcome,” before leaving.
Back in the office.
When Su Banxia entered with the clothes, the room was empty.
She only heard the sound of running water from the bathroom.
She frowned. Was Pei Shaoze showering?
Just because of the coffee spill?
That cleanliness obsession was intense.