Su Banxia wasn't pretending to be diligent in front of her boss; she really had to finish this. She needed to complete the PPT for the afternoon.
Pei Shaoze noticed she kept staring at the computer, seemingly oblivious to his words. Su Banxia felt a surge of irritation.
"Su Banxia..."
"President Pei, go ahead and eat first. I still have some things to take care of. I'll be done soon!"
She glanced back at him, then promptly treated Pei Shaoze as if he were invisible.
Pei Shaoze's handsome face tightened, his expression turning cold and sharp. He was angry.
Because this damn woman wouldn't give him any face and even acted like he was in the way.
The anger in his heart surged up abruptly. He grabbed Su Banxia's wrist and said directly, "Come eat with me!"
Su Banxia: "..."
Why suddenly like this?
Dragged out of the office by him, Su Banxia felt a bit helpless. Her work wasn't finished yet, but it was almost done. She just needed to tweak and organize it a bit later.
She followed Pei Shaoze out of the company.
Su Banxia wasn't angry, though. She let Pei Shaoze lead her straight to the restaurant.
If someone was treating her to a meal, she wasn't going to be fussy.
"What do you want to eat?"
"Anything's fine!"
Actually, Su Banxia shouldn't have said those three words, because she had no idea what was wrong with Pei Shaoze's head that he took her to eat hotpot.
And he ordered the extra spicy kind.
Hotpot for lunch.
With a meeting in the afternoon.
In the restaurant, Su Banxia looked at Pei Shaoze, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke up, "President Pei, you have a meeting with Mr. Liu from Nanhang this afternoon."
"Yeah. I know."
Pei Shaoze replied, his expression calm.
Su Banxia tried again, "Eating hotpot at noon and then going to discuss work later might not be appropriate, right?"
She genuinely thought it was inappropriate. Everything else was fine, but showing up reeking of hotpot to meet someone was really awkward.
Pei Shaoze naturally wouldn't think about that, because to him, none of it mattered.
He ordered the food and, of course, asked for Su Banxia's opinion.
Su Banxia wasn't picky. She nodded slightly and smiled politely, agreeing to everything. After all, she was just accompanying him to eat.
She couldn't exactly complain.
While waiting for the food, Su Banxia looked at him, "President Pei, why did you suddenly want to eat hotpot?"
And at... noon!
"I like it."
Su Banxia: "..."
Nothing was more powerful than those two words.
Su Banxia didn't ask further. She couldn't figure out the mind of a lunatic.
Just as they were about to start eating, Pei Shaoze suddenly thought of something and called the waiter over to order a bowl of plain congee for her.
Confused, she looked at him, "Why do we need congee with hotpot?"
Pei Shaoze picked up his plate to add ingredients to the pot, glanced at her, and said, "You need to eat it."
"I don't want to eat it!"
Su Banxia was speechless.
"You should eat it."
Then he paused, looking at her, "You can't have this stuff yet."
Just as Su Banxia's brows furrowed and she was about to lose her temper, he spoke again, "Your fever just broke. Eating spicy food is bad for you."
Su Banxia: "..."
Damn it!
Then why the hell did you bring me here to eat it?
She could only say that in her head.
The congee arrived, and the hotpot was ready.
Su Banxia stared at the beef, pork belly, and seaweed boiling in the pot. The more she looked, the more she wanted to eat it. She couldn't resist picking up her chopsticks to grab some.
But Pei Shaoze stopped her, "You can't eat this yet."
Would acting cute work at a time like this? She pouted and looked at him pitifully, "President Pei, seeing food I can't eat is really torture!"
Pei Shaoze's heart almost skipped a beat.
Her soft demeanor struck the most tender part of his heart.
For just a moment, he had the impulse to give her everything. That thought was truly insane.
But only for a moment. His face darkened, and he said coldly, "Drink the congee."
Su Banxia: "..."
She swore that in her past life, she must have dug up his ancestors' graves.
That's why he was tormenting her in this life.
Fine, if she couldn't eat, she wouldn't. She looked down at the plain congee in front of her, unwilling as hell.
But she drank it anyway, on an empty stomach.
She wasn't stupid.
She still had things to do in the afternoon.
Pei Shaoze had originally just wanted to take her out to eat. He'd casually learned from Fang Shiqing that Su Banxia liked hotpot.
So...
But when the food arrived, he suddenly remembered that her fever had only broken last night, and her body hadn't recovered yet. Of course, she couldn't eat spicy food.
So, he could only let her watch him eat.
Su Banxia wouldn't think about that, nor would she want to.
Feeling unhappy, she naturally didn't want to talk to him. She lowered her head to drink the congee, her mind already drifting back to work.
Until a voice came from beside them—a woman's voice.
"Hey, handsome!"
It was a woman coming over to greet them.
Su Banxia rested her chin on her hand and watched. This hotpot place was upscale, but there were still plenty of people here. From the moment they walked in, Su Banxia had noticed many eyes on Pei Shaoze.
No surprise there. Good-looking people were always popular wherever they went.
And Pei Shaoze's handsomeness wasn't just about his looks; it was also about his extraordinary, kingly aura.
No wonder other girls had their eyes on him.
In response to the greeting, Pei Shaoze only gave a cold look, "Something wrong?"
He tossed those two words at the woman and then turned his attention back to Su Banxia in front of him.
Unfazed by his coldness, the woman smiled boldly, "Can I have your WeChat? I'd really like to get to know you!"
Wow, a pretty bold way to approach someone. Su Banxia had to admit she was impressed.
But Pei Shaoze seemed to hate this kind of flirting. He frowned at the woman and said, "Do you enjoy hitting on married men? Are you interested in men with wives?"
At that, the woman's gaze shifted to Su Banxia. She paused, then said apologetically, "Sorry, I didn't know you were married. I thought..."
"That guy looks just like the CEO of Dingsheng!"
Someone nearby chimed in, and the woman froze, staring more closely at Pei Shaoze.
Pei Shaoze frowned and said to Su Banxia, "It's getting late. Let's go."
Then he pulled Su Banxia and left.
Su Banxia: "..."
What did she do wrong?
She hadn't even finished her congee before being dragged away.
In the car.
Su Banxia leaned back in her seat, munching on a burger, and said dryly, "President Pei, your way of treating someone to a meal is really... unique."
Pei Shaoze didn't say much, his expression dark.
After finishing the burger, Su Banxia checked the time and looked at him, "Can we go back to the company now?"
Pei Shaoze looked at her. For some reason, his dark eyes were especially bright as he asked, "When does your husband come back?"
Huh?
Su Banxia's brain cells instantly went into overdrive.
She tensed up and said, "Why are you asking about that? That's my personal life."
"We slept together. To some extent, we've gone beyond a boss-subordinate relationship."
Pei Shaoze's expression was unusually serious.
Su Banxia didn't know what was going on with him, but...
Her husband!
She had to answer.
After thinking for a moment, she said, "My husband is very busy with work. He probably won't be back anytime soon."
Pei Shaoze stared at her with his dark eyes for a while, then silently started the car and drove toward the Dingsheng building.
Su Banxia couldn't figure out what he was thinking, so she didn't ask further.